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An increasing number of people are turning to stock trading as a way to supplement their income, and those who are the most committed can do quite well financially.
While it isn't exactly rocket science, the learning curve for becoming a successful stock trader can be very steep. It's possible to learn stock trading theory by reading a book, but gaining the practical knowledge, skills, and confidence to trade with your own money requires more extensive training with real-time support. That's what a high-quality online stock trading course can offer.
Below you'll see our picks for the best stock trading classes online; they offer the most value for your money, with comprehensive education covering beginner to advanced skills. Many of them offer tiered service and membership levels, and in some cases you'll find live classes and one-on-one instruction to address all of your questions.
Investopedia offers its own stock trading class as part of the Investopedia Academy, but to maintain objectivity, we opted to exclude it from this roundup. If you are interested in this course, please visit the Investopedia Academy.
Investors Underground
Well-established with a solid reputation
Large and active chat room
Access to mentors, including the founder
Pricing is on the high end
Trading courses sold separately from the primary subscription for around $1,000
Investors Underground (IU) has the most complete offering by far. With a clear educational path at a fairly reasonable price, it's our choice as the best overall stock trading course.
IU's Textbook Trading course was one of the first of its kind designed for those with only basic knowledge of trading. Although it starts out with the basics, it quickly elevates to more advanced topics, including the application of trading tools and actionable trading setups.
From there, students move right into the Tandem Trader, a 12-hour advanced day trading course. What's unique about this course is that in addition to the standard educational content used in advanced classes, Tandem Trader includes screenshots of live trades made by Michaud along with his tick-by-tick commentary, showing students how it feels to trade right alongside a top trader. It's one thing to learn trading theory; it's entirely different to see trading setups play out in real-time.
Following that you'll take the Swing Trading course, featuring over six hours of content on swing trading methodology and strategy. You'll learn the foundations of swing trading, along with advanced technical analysis, how to analyze long and short-chart patterns, and how to identify key price levels.
You can purchase courses individually or combined with a monthly, quarterly, or annual paid membership. Adding trading courses to the monthly subscription ($297 per month) or quarterly subscription ($697 per quarter) will cost you an additional $1,000. And with an annual subscription ($1,897 annually), IU's trading courses will cost $800, for a total investment of $2,697 in your first year of Investors Underground. The yearly subscription is the best value for up-and-coming traders who want to learn and practice at their own pace.
Udemy
Use code INVESTOPEDIA10 for 10% off this course.
Valid only through this link. This offer runs from Oct. 1 to Oct. 31 and is only available for 24 hours after the first click.
Low prices
Comprehensive courses
Extensive course selection
No opportunity for practical application
No chat rooms
No coaching
Udemy offers a wide range of beginner stock trading courses at remarkably low prices, making it our choice as the best course provider for newbies. Its affordable prices make Udemy an attractive choice for anyone who wants to see if stock trading is for them without committing too much.
For those brand new to stock investing, Udemy offers Stock Market from Scratch for Complete Beginners. Priced regularly at $49.99, the course includes six sections with 51 lectures for a total of 6.5 hours of instruction. There is often a steep discount available.
With that foundation of knowledge, you can move up to The Complete Foundation Stock Trading Course, available for $179.99 with steep discounts again available. The course takes you further up the learning curve to better understand how the stock market works, how orders are placed, and how to perform risk management, along with an introduction to chart analysis.
Then, for a deeper dive into stock trading, you could take the Complete Day Trading Course, which focuses on the skill of technical analysis. Students learn how to trade more than 16 chart patterns and understand performance indicators. For $129.99, you receive 10 hours of on-demand video, 11 downloadable resources, and full lifetime access. Like Udemy’s other courses, you can usually catch a large promotional discount.
All courses are taught using pre-recorded video lessons that include expert instruction with demonstrations of trading techniques. The downsides of Udemy’s courses are there are no opportunities for practical application or live instruction, although you may be able to ask questions of the instructor. For more, see Udemy’s full selection of stock trading classes.
Bullish Bears
Courses on a variety of topics, available without a membership
Affordable monthly and annual memberships
Membership comes with live trade room access, live trading advice, trade alerts, and more
No free trial
No refunds
If you want a lot for your money, consider a subscription to Bullish Bears. For $47 per month or $247 per year, you’ll get access to a variety of teaching tools, including:
Bullish Bears offers a comprehensive package, from courses you can complete on your own time to community-based lessons and trade room experiences. The classes can help you get started or master certain topics, and they include a paper simulator so you can put your ideas into practice risk-free. But many students will get a lot out of the live trade room and streaming video as well—it’s one thing to learn about trading, but it can be much more valuable to see it done in front of you.
If you choose the annual membership, you’ll get all that for only about $21 per month, a great price for access to classes, experienced trading mentors, and a trade room. If you’d rather not spring for a membership, you can take all of Bullish Bears’ courses on their own for free.
TD Ameritrade
Offered by a renowned stock brokerage firm
Vast library of content
Variety of interactive platforms
No coaching or interaction with other traders
Offering a massive range of topics from investing basics to trading strategy guides, the investing and trading library from TD Ameritrade is useful for beginners and seasoned stock traders alike—and it's free, making it our choice as the best free stock trading course.
TD Ameritrade has been a dominant player in the self-directed trading space for decades, and it has always made investor education a cornerstone of its service. Whether you are a newbie to stock trading or an advanced trader, TD Ameritrade's vast library of videos, education guides, tutorials, and webinars can help you get to the next level—free of charge.
While you do need to open a TD Ameritrade account to access its education center, you're not required to make a minimum investment. So, when you've learned enough to begin, your trading account is set up and ready to go.
In addition to guides, videos, and tutorials, the educational library includes fun animations, vocabulary dictionaries, and quizzes. Many of the courses are paired with webcasts and other events, including live classroom instruction at a local TD Ameritrade office. Most of the educational content is also available on a mobile app.
Topics range from the basics, such as Simple Steps for a Retirement Portfolio, to the advanced, such as Options for Volatility.
Skillshare
Nearly 7 hours of content
Learn about a wide variety of chart patterns
High ratings from students
One affordable membership includes access to hundreds of classes
No trade room or live instructor
Can’t buy individual classes
Must maintain Skillshare membership to access course
Many classes include technical analysis as part of their offering, but you’ll find several highly rated Skillshare courses that focus on this skill alone. You must pay to become a member of Skillshare, but that membership comes with access to the full catalog of Skillshare courses; you can try it for a month for free to see if it’s a good fit.
Our top pick, titled Technical Analysis Day Trading / Swing Trading Strategies for Stocks Crypto Forex Commodities Options, assumes a bit of starting knowledge but begins with an introduction to common terminology. You’ll learn about the instructor’s trading philosophy (“trade like a casino”), before getting into how to understand order books and set up your trading platform.
From there, you’ll dive into the details of technical indicators, support and resistance levels, and common chart patterns to use for day trading. The class finishes up with discussions of more advanced topics, like relative strength indicators and Fibonacci analysis. The strategies taught are meant to be applicable to day trading and swing trading in all kinds of markets (stocks, options, crypto, etc.).
If you finish up that class and want another angle on technical analysis, consider Stock Trading & Bitcoin/Cryptocurrency Trading Course | Technical Analysis: Beginner to Pro. Or browse the full selection of Skillshare’s stock trading courses here.
You can discuss the class material with other students, and in some cases with the instructor. Skillshare courses are available online and by mobile app; members can download videos to watch offline, but only through the mobile app.
Bear Bull Traders
Extensive library of videos and high-level trading tutorials
Access to professional trading simulator
Helpful trader community with support from chat room monitors
Designated chat rooms for various forms of trading
Webinars are only available to annual subscribers
7-day trial membership is not free
The Bear Bull Traders learning platform includes a variety of resources for day trading and is offered at very reasonable prices, making it a great value as well. There are less expensive stock trading courses, but if you want to ensure you have access to all the learning resources you'll need to succeed, it makes sense to pay just a little bit more.
Since its founding in 2016, the Bear Bull Traders online community has become one of the more popular among active day traders. Besides its vast library of educational resources, Bear Bull Traders provides members with ongoing support through member meetups and its crew of chat room monitors. Members can access the trade simulator for about $100 per month to hone their skills with paper trading before going live with their own money at stake.
Chat rooms and active discussion forums are some of the best learning experiences a stock trading course can offer. Bear Bull Traders has designated chat rooms for day trading, swing trading, options, forex, and trading psychology.
More importantly, members have access to experienced mentors, including founder Andrew Aziz.
Bear Bull Traders offers a two-tiered membership, Basic or Elite. Both the Basic plan ($99 per month) and Elite plan ($199 per month) are cancellable at any time. If you're ready for a longer commitment, you can save by purchasing an Elite Annual subscription for a yearly payment of $1,199. Basic membership gets you access to the live chat rooms and the basic lessons, while the Elite membership adds webinars, mentorship, and access to the trading psychology team. BBT also offers a seven-day trial membership for $39.
Bulls on Wall Street
Established company with a solid reputation
Personalized training
Access to trading simulator with mentor feedback
Reasonably priced subscription options
No trial membership available
Bulls on Wall Street's training bootcamp is unique in the industry. It's a bit different now than when it launched, but it still offers comprehensive personalized support for members, making it the best stock trading course for live training. A Bulls Vision subscription costs $199 per month, or $1,499 annually.
Established in 2008, Bulls on Wall Street is one of the older stock trading course providers. Its founder, Kunal Desai, has been an active day trader since 1999. Desai intended to make this trading course a more personalized experience for members, and the Accelerated Trading Course has become the cornerstone of his offering.
The bootcamp classes, which once were live, are now accessible on demand. Students will attend live market recaps with Desai three times a week, plus Sunday "market huddles." You'll go over Desai's weekly trades, discuss the state of the market, and find potential good stocks for next week.
Students can also join the Bulls Vision day trading chatroom, featuring Desai's live cam feed so you can watch him trade, actionable trade ideas, and access to live market recaps and advanced platform tutorials.
The annual subscription includes all of the above plus a trading toolkit course book, live event access, and a personalized strategic account executive.
Coursera
Highly rated course and instructor
High-level analysis of markets, pricing, and valuation
Part of a multi-course specialization track
Relatively low on video instruction
No instructor interaction
Coursera’s Stocks and Bonds class is presented by the University of Michigan and is taught by Professor Gautam Kaul. It’s available for free; it just requires a basic Coursera membership, at no cost. (Coursera’s paid membership has a free trial as well.)
The course is meant for beginners, but it requires some basic understanding of algebra. It applies the Time Value of Money (TVM) concept to understand stocks and bonds. TVM is a fundamental idea in finance. It states that a particular sum of money is worth more now than it’ll be worth in the future, due to its earning potential in the meantime.
Stocks and Bonds will take about 10 hours to complete. It’s designed to be taken over four weeks, but you can reset the deadlines to learn at your own pace. It consists of a few hours of video, along with some reading materials and quizzes.
The first week will introduce some common vocabulary and discuss how bonds are valued. In the next week, you’ll look at real market data to understand how bonds are priced, and you’ll submit your first assignment. In the following two weeks, you’ll go through the same process with stocks, learning how stocks affect company operations and submitting a final assignment. When you finish up you’ll be awarded a certificate of completion.
Stocks and Bonds is part of a four-month specialization track, the Foundational Finance for Strategic Decision Making Specialization, which is designed to provide a deep understanding of personal finance. Coursera offers a variety of free and paid finance classes from prestigious universities.
Financial Edge
Direct instructor help
CPD-certified course
Lifetime access
No practical exercises
Somewhat short
Financial Edge’s Traditional & Alternative Investments class is relatively short, at 2.5 hours, but it gets straight to the point.
Emerging markets are typically considered to be those of countries with rapidly expanding or improving economies, which generally have high rewards and high risks. Alternative investments are those that don’t fit into conventional categories of equity, income, and cash. This course will teach you how to think about both.
You’ll start with a few sessions on the basics, like understanding equity, valuation, and financial statements, before learning about different market sectors (industrials and financials). The class then discusses how emerging markets and alternative investments fit in before getting into some of the main investment strategies—hedge funds, private equity, and venture capital.
When you’re through with the course, you should have a firm grasp of how to trade in emerging markets. And whether or not you plan to work in a hedge fund, you’ll see how they and other alternative investment strategies influence the world and the markets.
It’s not the cheapest course, at $99, but you’ll get direct help from the instructor and lifetime access to the class materials. The Traditional and Alternative Investments course is CPD-certified (Continuing Professional Development) by The CPD Certification Service; some employers and organizations track CPD points, and this class will count.
All of the stock trading classes reviewed here are worthy of consideration by traders of all levels of experience—from neophyte to advanced. You may like one over another based on individual circumstances, budget, learning preferences, and the level of commitment you have for learning to trade stocks online.
Not entirely sure online stock trading is for you, but want to learn more? A low-cost option from Udemy or the no-cost option available at TD Ameritrade is your best choice.
If you've decided to commit to learning to trade stocks and want the best bang for your buck, Bear Bull Traders should be your first choice.
If you want the very best overall offering and are willing to pay a bit more for the privilege, Investors Underground checks all the boxes and then some.
With the proliferation of self-directed trading platforms, such as TD Ameritrade, Schwab, Fidelity, Robinhood, and many others, online stock trading courses have grown proportionately. Stock trading courses typically offer a full range of educational and research capabilities to help novice traders develop their skills and knowledge while enabling more advanced traders to up their game.
Many of the top stock trading courses offer structured courses with either video or online instruction. A significant learning component of these courses is the chat room, which provides all students and members with access to a large community of traders to exchange ideas. These chat rooms are typically moderated or attended by expert traders who offer their input. The best courses also provide opportunities for practical application through trading simulators that mimic a real trading environment using fake money.
Anyone interested in making money in the stock market could benefit from a stock trading class. While it's possible to learn the ins and outs of stock trading on your own—through books, videos, and podcasts available online—a good stock trading course provides a more structured learning path, with the opportunity to interact with expert traders and apply your skills and knowledge without risking your own money. These courses can also help develop discipline and the proper trading mindset, which are critical to successful trading.
Learning how to trade stocks doesn't have to cost a fortune. In fact, you have access to plenty of free training and resources through some of the top online brokerage companies, such as TD Ameritrade. From there, the cost depends on the scope of the class. If you just want theory and a thorough explanation of the methodology and strategies, you can pay as little as $110 for a comprehensive video course.
If you want deeper immersion into the art and science of trading, you might pay between $100 and $300 per month for a subscription to course materials, webinars, and chat room access. For more hands-on training or mentoring, you could easily pay as much as $300 to $500 per month. At those prices, you have to consider what return on investment a course could produce through increased monthly earnings.
The amount of time it takes to learn to trade stocks depends on the individual. If you can commit 100% to a good stock trading course, you should be able to get up and running within a few weeks of starting the course. If you're learning in your spare time, you should expect to commit at least 40 hours to structured learning, which you might have to spread over a couple of months. The keys are to learn at a comfortable pace and to use a stock trading course that provides constant feedback on your learning progress. That can be achieved by using a professional trading simulator, like Investopedia's stock trading simulator.
We reviewed over 15 of the most trusted platforms and compared them against a specific set of criteria to choose the best stock trading courses. In addition to the types of classes they offer, we considered factors such as cost, awccess to instructors or mentors, access to a trading community, the extent of learning resources, availability of free courses or materials, and any unique features that added value to the services.
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