Technical analysis forecasts prices from past price and volume, not intrinsic value
A candle encodes open, high, low, close for one period
Uptrend: higher highs and higher lows; downtrend: the mirror; sideways: a range
A stop-loss is a pre-set exit that caps the loss on a trade
Patterns may be self-fulfilling or simply noise
Quant investing uses explicit, rules-based signals, not discretion
Fundamentals and technicals are complementary lenses, not rivals
The Code is the profession’s statement of core ethical values
Seven Standards turn the Code’s values into enforceable rules
Alternative data plus machine learning widen the information set but add new risks
EMH: prices reflect available information and adjust quickly, without bias
Active seeks alpha through selection and timing. Passive tracks an index cheaply
Behavioral finance links investor psychology to patterns the strict EMH misses
Growth stocks trade at high multiples on expected earnings growth
Two distinct style systems must be kept separate
Merger blends two firms into one. Acquisition is one buying control of another
Three lenses: comparable companies, precedent transactions, DCF
Financing ladder: bootstrap, friends and family, grants, crowdfunding, debt
Rounds: pre-seed (preliminary), seed, Series A, then B, C, D
Post-money equals pre-money plus the new investment
Business model: how a venture creates, delivers, and captures value
Business plan: concept story, market, team, operations, risks
Investing commits money now for a larger risk-adjusted payoff later
Policy statement sets objectives, risk tolerance, horizon, constraints
Real assets are productive resources that generate goods and income
Intermediaries stand between savers and capital users
Open-end mutual funds issue and redeem units at NAV
Primary market: issuers sell new securities and receive the proceeds
HOSE lists larger firms and the VN-Index; HNX lists smaller firms and bonds
Money market: debt maturing in one year or less, high liquidity
A bond pays scheduled coupons plus face value at maturity
Bond price is the present value of coupons plus face value
Bond price and yield move in opposite directions
The yield curve plots yield against maturity for one credit quality
Duration is the leading measure of interest-rate sensitivity
Convexity is the curvature correction to duration’s straight line
Securitization pools loans and issues tradable securities on their cash flows
Holding-period return adds capital gain and income over the price paid
Diversification lowers risk by combining imperfectly correlated assets
Two-asset variance adds two weighted variances and a covariance cross term
Minimise portfolio variance subject to a target return and weights summing to one
Sweeping the mean-variance solution over targets traces the minimum-variance frontier
A risk-free asset plus a risky portfolio traces a straight capital allocation line
CAPM: required return is the risk-free rate plus beta times the market risk premium
Multifactor models let several systematic factors drive expected returns
Risk-adjusted measures divide reward by the risk borne
Asset allocation divides capital across equities, bonds, gold, commodities, and crypto
Intrinsic value compared with market price drives the buy or sell decision
Strategy aims to earn returns above the cost of capital for longer than rivals
Five Forces explain why some industries are structurally more profitable
Strengths and Weaknesses are internal and controllable
Income statement: revenue and expenses over a period, ending in net income
Four families: liquidity, leverage, operating efficiency, profitability
Relative valuation prices a firm against peers via multiples
A share is worth the present value of all future dividends
DCF values a firm as the present value of its free cash flow
Earnings quality asks whether profit reflects real economics