Open Varsity
An open source learning portal for markets, trading, investing and quantitative finance. Practical, structured and honest, refreshed every three months with recent examples, and free of ads, gatekeeping and hype.
Choose your starting point
Beginner → ExpertStock Market Basics
Brand new to the market? Start here - before any code. Understand shares, IPOs, indices, what moves prices and how to spot scams, in plain English with clear diagrams and real Indian examples.
- •Zero jargon assumed
- •Understand the market, not code
- •Modern, visual, India-first
Technical Analysis
Want to read a chart, not just buy and hold? Learn technical analysis from the very first candle - trends, support and resistance, chart patterns, and indicators like RSI, MACD and moving averages - every concept shown on real NSE daily charts, honest about probability over certainty.
- •Built on real NSE charts
- •Candlesticks to indicators
- •Probability, not prediction
Python for Traders
Never written a line of code? Start from absolute zero. Learn Python itself - variables, data, NumPy, pandas and charts - one small step at a time, on real market data.
- •No prior coding needed
- •Pure Python, NumPy & pandas
- •Real yfinance & OpenAlgo data
Futures Trading
New to derivatives? Start with futures. Understand what a contract really is, then margin and leverage, mark-to-market, long and short, the payoff, liquidity, rollover, settlement, costs and taxation, open interest, hedging and position sizing, all in plain English with real Indian market examples, honest about the leverage that cuts both ways.
- •Never traded a contract
- •Margin, leverage & payoff
- •Honest about the risks
Options Basics
Calls and puts from absolute zero. Premium, strike and expiry, moneyness, the option chain, the four single-leg payoffs, the Greeks and implied volatility - every term defined, every payoff a real chart, honest about why most option buyers lose.
- •Zero options jargon assumed
- •Real payoff charts
- •Buyer vs seller, honestly
Options Strategies
All 38 strategies in the OpenAlgo strategy builder, each with an authentic payoff chart and the full nine-metric panel (max profit, max loss, POP, risk to reward, margin) built on real NIFTY data. Spreads, straddles, iron condors and flies, ratios, jade lizards, batman, calendars, plus margin, pledging and adjustments.
- •All 38 builder strategies
- •Real NIFTY nine-metric panels
- •Defined risk first
Algo Trading with Python
Comfortable with the basics? Build, backtest and automate real trading strategies with the OpenAlgo SDK - indicators, signals, orders, WebSockets and risk management.
- •Assumes Python basics
- •The OpenAlgo SDK
- •Automated strategies, orders & risk
Quantitative Trading
A full quant career curriculum: the Indian market's structure and plumbing, the mathematics of markets, market microstructure and the technology of HFT and execution, time series, derivatives and volatility, alpha research, honest backtesting and machine learning, and taking a strategy to production - every example run on real market data.
- •Microstructure, HFT & execution
- •Maths, time series & derivatives
- •Alpha, backtesting & production
Statistical Arbitrage
The real thing, brutally honest: stationarity and cointegration, pairs and baskets, dynamic hedge ratios with the Kalman filter, and market-neutral books on NSE equities. Every result computed on real market data pulled via OpenAlgo from the connected broker, gross and net, in-sample and out-of-sample, with an honest line between a statistical relationship and a tradable edge.
- •Cointegration, pairs & baskets
- •Kalman, factor-neutral & risk
- •Honest backtesting & costs
AmiBroker AFL
For traders and investors who prefer charts to Python. Learn AmiBroker's AFL language from scratch - build indicators, scan the whole market, and turn ideas into backtested systems and live automation, on one of the fastest engines a retail user can own.
- •No Python needed
- •Indicators, scans & systems
- •Backtest, optimise & automate
Taxation for Traders and Investors
Worried about tax on your trades? Learn it in plain English with real case studies - the income buckets and the two regimes, capital gains and STT on shares, why intraday is speculative, why F&O is business income (turnover, audit and loss set-off), tax on US stocks and Schedule FA, and crypto's flat 30 percent. Honest about the mistakes that bring a notice years later. Educational only, not tax advice.
- •Plain English, real case studies
- •Shares, F&O, US stocks & crypto
- •Not tax advice - file with a CA
Risk Management
The market does not reward the smartest trader - it rewards the one still standing. Learn the one skill that keeps you in the game: what risk really is, the beginner money-safety system, investor and trader risk, position sizing and stop-losses, leverage and execution risk, and F&O risk - in plain English with real Indian examples, clear diagrams and checklists.
- •Survival first, profit second
- •Sizing, stops & risk limits
- •For investors, traders & F&O beginners
Trading Psychology & Risk Playbooks
Most traders do not lose to the market - they lose to themselves. The second half of staying alive: master your own mind (fear, greed, loss aversion, FOMO, discipline as a system, journaling), learn when to hedge and when not to, the option-seller and hedger playbook, and a complete, ready-to-use risk plan for every type of participant.
- •Discipline as a system
- •Hedging done honestly
- •A risk plan for every trader
Not sure where to begin?
Open Varsity has a market-basics entry point, a Python-to-quant ladder, and a parallel no-Python AFL track. If you're new to markets, start with Stock Market Basics. To learn to read price charts, take Technical Analysis. If you're ready to code but new to Python, start with Python for Traders. Once you can handle data confidently, move to Algo Trading with Python to build and automate strategies. When you want the layer beneath the charts - the market structure and the maths - take Quantitative Trading. Prefer to work in charts rather than Python? Take AmiBroker AFL instead - a parallel, no-Python track for traders and investors that teaches the AFL language from scratch, all the way to backtested systems and live automation. Every course is free, self-paced, and full of examples you can run yourself.
For education only - not investment advice. Practise in analyze mode.