Options 101: Calls, Puts, Strike, Expiration Explained
Options primer: how calls and puts work, what strike, expiration, and premium really mean, plus intrinsic vs time value.
Market Education
Learn how stocks, bonds and capital markets work. Explore plain-English explanations, worked examples and charts, then follow related coverage to connect market concepts with current events. Find your way around ECMSource.
Factor Investing: Value, Momentum, Quality, Size, Low-Vol
Factor investing in plain English: the five equity factors, where they came from, how Ken French and AQR build them, and where each one breaks.
T-Bills vs T-Notes vs T-Bonds: Treasury Securities 101
T-Bills, T-Notes, and T-Bonds explained: maturities, coupon math, auction schedule, and the live June 2026 yield curve, with worked examples.
What Is the P/E Ratio and When Does It Mislead You?
P/E ratio formula, trailing vs forward, sector benchmarks, Shiller CAPE, and the five cases where price-to-earnings flat-out misleads investors.
How an IPO Actually Works: S-1, Bookbuilding, Greenshoe
How a company goes public, step by step: the S-1 filing, bookbuilding, share allocation under FINRA Rule 5130, and the greenshoe that stabilizes the first weeks of trading.
Short Selling and Short Squeezes Explained: How They Work
How a short sale actually works — locate, borrow, margin — and why a crowded short can flip into a squeeze that prints $483 GameStop.
Yield Curve Explained: Shapes, Inversion, Recession Signal
What the Treasury yield curve is, what each shape means, and why inversion has preceded every U.S. recession since the late 1960s.
Bond Duration and Convexity Explained: Why Prices Fall
Duration tells you how much a bond’s price moves when yields shift 1%. Convexity tells you how much duration is lying. Formulas, example, traps.
Venture Capital Explained: Stages, Term Sheets, and Down Rounds
How VC actually works: seed through growth, what’s in a term sheet, how dilution stacks up round by round, and what happens when a down round hits.
Whisper Numbers and PEAD: Why Beats Drift After Earnings
What earnings whisper numbers are, what post-earnings announcement drift (PEAD) is, and why a ‘beat’ sometimes sends a stock lower.