TradeWize · Blog
Investing, explained in plain English.
Everything you need to understand investing and keep up with the markets.
What Is a CFD? The Trade Where You Never Own Anything
There's no exchange, no share certificate, no seat at the AGM — just a contract with a broker who books the other side of your bet. Here's what you're actually holding.
Read the article →What Is Leverage in Trading? The Multiplier That Cuts Both Ways
Every blown-up account has the same autopsy: the idea was survivable, the size wasn't. Leverage is the multiplier that decides which one you're running — here's exactly how it works.
Read the article →What Is a Futures Contract? How Futures Trading Works
Every time the news says "oil futures jumped," it's talking about a 300-year-old farmer's trick that now moves trillions of dollars — and can double your money or vaporise it before lunch.
Read the article →What Is Duration? Why a “Safe” Bond Fund Can Still Lose You Money
Bonds are supposed to be the boring, sensible part of a portfolio. Then 2022 happened, and the safest bonds on earth fell harder than most people thought possible. One number explains why — and it was printed on the fact sheet the whole time.
Read the article →What Are Retained Earnings? The Profit a Company Decides to Keep
It sounds like a company's savings account. It's one of the most misread lines on the balance sheet — and the jar is nearly always empty.
Read the article →What Is a Balanced Fund? The One-Fund Portfolio, Explained
Stocks and bonds, blended into a single fund that rebalances itself while you get on with your life. It's the closest thing investing has to a set-and-forget button — with a small catch or two.
Read the article →The Market Already Priced In the War
A ceasefire broke this week, oil spiked, and the Dow shed 570 points in an afternoon. Forty-eight hours later the market had already moved on. That's not luck — it's the single most misunderstood idea in investing.
Read the article →Index Fund vs ETF vs Mutual Fund: What's the Real Difference?
Three names, two of them mean the same kind of thing, and one isn't even in the same category. Here's the map.
Read the article →What Is an Index Fund? (And Why Everyone Says to Buy One)
The most repeated advice in investing, finally explained: what you're actually buying, why 'average' wins, and how to pick one in about five minutes.
Read the article →What Is Technical Analysis? How Traders Read Price
Two people look at the same stock: one reads the company, the other reads the crowd. Here's what technical analysis actually is — and whether reading charts holds up.
Read the article →What Is a Candlestick Chart? How to Read One
Every trading screen in every finance movie is covered in little green and red rectangles. Here's what they actually say — and why the design is older than the lightbulb.
Read the article →Types of Bonds, Explained: From Government Debt to Junk
A bond is a loan where you're the lender. But lend to a rock-solid government and you get one thing; lend to a shaky company and you get quite another. Here's the whole ladder, from safest to junk.
Read the article →What Is the Ex-Date? The Cut-Off That Decides Who Gets Paid
One date decides who collects the next dividend — and the next rights issue, split and spin-off too. Own the shares before it and it's yours; a day late and the seller keeps it. Here's the rule, and why it works that way.
Read the article →What Is a Mutual Fund? (And How It Actually Works)
Pool your money with thousands of strangers, hand it to a professional, and own a slice of hundreds of companies at once. Here's how that works — and the fees worth watching.
Read the article →The 7 Most Popular ETFs, Compared (VOO, VTI, SPY, QQQ & More)
Seven tickers cover the vast majority of ETF money. Here's what each one actually holds, what it costs, and which job it's built for — in one scannable comparison.
Read the article →Types of ETFs, Explained: What's Inside Them and How Risky They Are
"ETF" tells you the wrapper, not the contents. Inside, they range from a calm, ultra-diversified bond fund to a leveraged product that can quietly bleed you dry. Here's the whole shelf.
Read the article →The 60/40 Portfolio: The Classic Mix, Explained
60% stocks, 40% bonds, rebalanced once a year. It's the original balanced fund, the default of pension plans everywhere — and the subject of more premature obituaries than almost any idea in finance.
Read the article →Corporate Actions Explained: Splits, Dividends, Buybacks and the Events That Quietly Change What You Own
One morning you own 100 shares; the next you own 200, and no, you didn't get richer overnight. Here's the full menu of corporate actions — what each one does to your holding, and the handful that actually need you to do something.
Read the article →Active vs Passive ETFs: Is a Stock-Picker Worth the Extra Fee?
One pays a manager to beat the market; the other quietly tracks it for almost nothing. Here's what the extra fee buys you — and how often it actually pays off.
Read the article →What Is a P/E Ratio? How to Tell If a Stock Is Expensive
The P/E ratio is a price tag in years — how many years of today's profit you're paying for. Here's how to read it without getting fooled.
Read the article →What Is a Ponzi Scheme? How It Works and the Red Flags
A Ponzi scheme isn't a risky investment — it isn't an investment at all. It's a queue, and the math always wins in the end.
Read the article →Primary vs Secondary Market: What's the Difference, and Where Does Your Money Go?
Buy a share on an ordinary Tuesday and the company gets exactly nothing — your money goes to whoever sold it. Here's where shares are born, where they're traded, and why the difference matters.
Read the article →What Is Earnings Per Share (EPS)? And Why a Rising One Can Still Fool You
It's the number that makes analysts cheer on earnings day — and the one a company can nudge upward without earning a single extra cent. Here's how EPS really works.
Read the article →What Is Diversification? The Only Free Lunch in Investing
Everyone says "don't put all your eggs in one basket" and then stops explaining. Here's what diversification really does — and why it's the closest thing investing has to a free lunch.
Read the article →What Is Inflation? (And Why Cash Is the Riskiest Place to Hide)
The quiet leak in every bank account — the reason money left alone slowly buys less, and why 'playing it safe' in cash is its own kind of risk.
Read the article →What Is Dollar-Cost Averaging? (And Why Boring Beats Brilliant)
It's the least glamorous strategy in investing — no charts to stare at, no perfect moment to catch. It's also the one most people should actually use. Here's why doing the boring thing on autopilot quietly beats waiting for the genius moment.
Read the article →What Is a Savings Rate? (And Why It Beats a Bigger Salary)
The number most people ignore while obsessing over which stock to pick — and the one that actually decides when you get to stop working.
Read the article →What Is Revenue? And Why It's Not the Same as Profit
It's the first number everyone quotes and the one most people misread. Here's what revenue really is — and why a company can rake in millions and still lose money.
Read the article →What Is Capital Expenditure (CapEx)? And Why It Decides How Much Cash a Company Really Keeps
The least glamorous line in the financial statements — and one of the most revealing. Here's what capital expenditure is, and why it quietly decides how much cash a business actually keeps.
Read the article →The Dividend Trap: How to Spot a Payout That's About to Be Cut
A fat yield is either a bargain or a countdown timer — and from the outside they look identical. Here's how to tell a healthy dividend from one that's about to be cut.
Read the article →What Is a Dividend? (And How You Get Paid for Doing Nothing)
Investing's version of a paycheck — cash that lands in your account for holding a stock and otherwise doing nothing. Here's how dividends actually work — and how to spot a good one.
Read the article →Stocks vs Bonds: The Growth Engine and the Seatbelt
One is a slice of a business. The other is a loan where you're the one getting paid. Here's stocks vs bonds, minus the jargon.
Read the article →What Is the S&P 500? (And How to Actually Invest in It)
It's the index everyone quotes and almost nobody explains. Here's what the S&P 500 actually is — and the boringly effective way real people buy it.
Read the article →Compound Interest: How Much Will Your Money Actually Grow?
It's the closest thing investing has to a cheat code — quietly turning small, boring contributions into genuinely silly amounts of money. Here's how, and how much.
Read the article →Should I Pay Off Debt or Invest First?
The answer hinges on one number — your interest rate — and one piece of free money most people leave on the table.
Read the article →Index Funds vs ETFs: What's the Difference (and Which Should You Buy)?
They're often the same thing in two wrappers. Here's what genuinely differs — and the handful of cases where it actually matters.
Read the article →How to Start Investing With $100
Small money, started early and added to consistently, beats big money started late. Here's the practical path.
Read the article →