Don't know how to invest in stocks? You can join these courses to learn

Whether in search of additional income or simply for the thrill of trading, a lot of people are joining courses on investing in the stock market

Kolkata-based Rohit Poddar, a 27-year- old mechanical engineer and MBA from IIM-Ahmedabad, is involved in his family business (jute processing machinery). But during his lunch breaks, he is busy trading in the stock market. “I have developed two strategies based on which I place trades. I review the strategies once every two weeks and devote two hours on Sundays comparing my performance with the benchmark indices,” he says. Poddar was investing earlier as well but was unhappy with the time taken to realise gains. That motivated him to join a six-month part-time course in algorithmic trading from QuantInsti.
 
Says Sharad Prabhu, a trainer in stock trading at FinLearn Academy: “When I started teaching, mostly those over 50 used to join the institute. The attitude was that since we are close to retirement, let’s do something to earn some income. Now I see students from different fields joining FinLearn. These include engineers, doctors, chartered accountants, wealth managers and financial planners.”
 
 Stock exchanges and regulatory courses: There are dime-a-dozen course providers in the stock market training space. If you like to stick to traditional names, the exchanges and regulatory bodies are the right choices. BSE Training Institute India from the Bombay Stock Exchange offers several diverse courses, both offline and online. Their short-term offerings include a basic programme on stock markets, a boot camp in the live trading workshop, basic programme on algorithmic quantitative trading, and basic technical, fundamental analysis, to name a few. Among long-term courses, it offers graduate and postgraduate courses, some of which are even conducted abroad.
 
The National Stock Exchange offers various courses via NCFM, its training academy. It provides both offline and online programmes of multiple durations, like short-term certifications and a few graduate and postgraduate programmes. NCFM has a broad offering via online-live courses, online recorded courses, and online interactive courses. Over and above the basics of stock markets, it offers courses like ‘Smart Index Trader Programme’ focused explicitly on futures and options trading in Nifty50 and Nifty Bank. Then there is a certified programme on “Algorithmic Trading & Computational Finance using Python & R” and another on live trading strategies. The Securities and Exchange Board of India has an education initiative called National Institute of Securities Market (NISM), which offers short-term certifications, full-time and part-time courses. Most certification or basic level courses involve self-study, while advance levels are taught offline and online. Some are designed for specific professions like the residential and non-residential programme for Capital Market Processes for Lawyers.
 
FinLearn Academy: If you are interested in learning technical analysis, then FinLearn Academy has much to offer. They offer trading and investing programmes across all asset classes – stocks, futures, commodities and currencies. These courses are delivered through both physical classrooms and online platforms. The programmes come in various durations. For instance, the technical programme comes in five options of 1-day Smart Trader Classroom which covers trading terminology, time frame and chart types, line chart, bar chart and candle chart, how to identify and mark an uptrend and downturn — to name a few. FinLearn also offers a two-day classroom, ten days online training in options, and a two-day programme in smart psychology. Says Prabhu: “Trading is about psychology; 75 per cent of it is about keeping your emotions in check.”
 

Online Trading Academy: Online Trading Academy (OTA) is one of the largest trading academies in the US. Sharekhan has partnered with OTA to bring this course to India. Says Jaideep Arora, CEO, Sharekhan by BNP Paribas:  “OTA is focussed on investors interested in trading and looking to reach the next level to make more profits or even live off their trading revenues.” OTA offers a number of courses, right from a basic course which lasts half a day to a training in core strategies, a course in futures, forex, practice lab session, options trading, to name a few. You also get access to a community of traders who use a structured OTA rule-based trading approach and support each other.
  
Definedge Solutions: It offers several training programmes as well as its flagship product “TradePoint” software for technical analysis and noiseless charting. Says Prashant Shah, CEO, Definedge: “Our training programmes include one-day and two-day classroom training sessions on noiseless charting methods, trading systems and options trading strategies on platforms like TradePoint and Opstra. The concept is called Traders’ NEST and includes  live market sessions, discussion on trade setups, trade management, etc.” Based in Pune, they offer training both online and offline.
 
 These are several others who offer various programmes that are basic as well as advanced, covering fundamental and technical analysis as well as other strategies. If you are looking for an international charter, then Chartered Market Technician, a global body, could be the one for you. Says Joel Pannikot, head, India, cmtassociation.org: “The CMT designation develops deep knowledge in technical analysis. Earning the CMT demonstrates mastery of a core body of knowledge of investment risk in portfolio management, including quantitative approaches to market research and rules-based trading system design and testing.” You need to pass three levels to get the charter. Apart from the above, you can also enrol in different stock market courses available on online platforms like Coursera, Udemy, Edx, etc.