Free Trading Library: An Interview with the Author of a Course Featuring Over 50 Articles
In the field of trading education, there are significantly more closed, paid courses than open ones. Igor Arapov, a practicing trader since 2013, created the free educational platform arapov.trade in three languages. It includes a step-by-step course for beginners, books, videos, and academic publications on the psychology of trading. We asked him what this library consists of and how it’s structured internally.
How the idea for a free library came about
I got into trading in 2013. Back then, it was aggressively advertised on billboards as a way to get rich quick. I believed it and have been working in this field ever since. At that time, there was very little theory on trading, especially in Russian and Ukrainian. Finding systematic, free material was nearly impossible.
Now there’s much more information available, but I decided to share my own experience, accumulated over the years. To bring it all together in one place—for free and in a coherent, step-by-step format—rather than as scattered fragments.
What the platform consists of
arapov.trade isn’t a single product, but rather five interconnected parts: a website with a free course and articles, a channel with instructional videos, a series of books, academic publications, and an archive of public trade analyses.
The materials cover technical analysis, volume analysis, the Wyckoff method, trading psychology, and the basics of cryptocurrencies in Russian, Ukrainian, and English.
There is no paid access, no mandatory registration via email, and no hidden fees. This is a matter of principle. The platform is available at arapov.trade.
As of the end of July 2026, the platform features over 50 articles on trading theory, over 45 thematic videos, 9 books, and 2 research papers. The platform’s full structure—including all links between the website, books, videos, and publications—can be viewed on Wikidata.
Why Is Everything Free?
In most cases, trading theory consists of the experiences of individuals, documented and passed down by mentors. That’s why a significant portion of the theory available online can be found for free, and I’m no exception.
I firmly believe that professional experience should be shared. It’s a kind of social responsibility: anyone who has been trading long enough should share their knowledge with those who are just starting out.
Beginner’s Course
The foundation of the platform is a free, step-by-step course consisting of 32 chapters organized into seven modules. It covers everything from market mechanics and technical analysis—through volume analysis and the Wyckoff method—to psychology, trading systems, and practice on a demo account.
Each subsequent chapter builds on the previous one. I designed the course so that learners can progress from zero to an understanding of expected value and learn to trade consciously, rather than by chance.
The course is registered as educational material in the MERLOT catalog and in the OER World Map registry of open educational resources.
One set of material, different formats
I’ve also published the same material as a series of nine books: three topics in three languages. The first volume covers market theory and fundamentals. The second focuses on analysis methods and practice. The third volume covers the psychology of trading, where the material is explored in greater detail than in the online course.
The ISBNs for all editions were obtained through Bowker USA, and the books are included in the collection of the Vernadsky National Library of Ukraine.
Based on this same series, a textbook titled “Fundamentals of Trading” is available in three languages on Wikibooks, and a course on the Wyckoff method is available in the Russian-language section of Wikiversity.
There is also a separate video archive: six thematic videos on YouTube. They follow the structure of the course but demonstrate chart analysis in real time rather than using static diagrams.
There is also an archive of public trade analyses on TradingView: my profile there has been public since October 24, 2021, with 267 ideas published. The very first post was about Bitcoin with a bearish forecast.
From there, the story continues uninterrupted: you can see everything there—both what came true and what didn’t. I don’t delete anything retroactively.
The Science Behind Trading Psychology
I supplemented the psychology section of the course with two scientific papers, since this topic cannot be fully explored through practical advice alone.
Together with Inna Sytnik, Ph.D. and head of the department at the National University of Food Technologies, we published an article titled “The Psychology of Investment Decisions: Cognitive Biases of Retail Traders in Financial Markets.”
It appeared in the journal “Investments: Practice and Experience,” DOI: 10.32702/2306-6814.2026.4.96.
The article draws on research in behavioral economics, particularly the work of Richard Thaler, Terrence Odin, Nicholas Barberis, and Hersh Shefrin.
Separately, there is a preprint on SSRN titled “From Tilt to System,” in which I translate these academic findings into a practical framework for managing cognitive biases in retail.
What Was the Most Challenging Part
The hardest part was structuring everything. The website covers a significant portion of general trading theory, but there is a vast amount of material that I didn’t cover. It would take more than a lifetime to cover it all.
When I was putting together the library, my top priority was to provide a general overview of the profession itself, so that beginners wouldn’t develop false illusions about how simple trading is.
What I Consider Most Important in the Course
The section that isn’t the most popular among readers but is the most valuable to me is expected value. Without an understanding of this topic, it’s impossible to achieve consistent results.
Moreover, realizing that you don’t need to be right on every single trade significantly simplifies the decision-making process for a trader.
How Feedback from Students Changed Things
Over many years of teaching, I’ve noticed that people aren’t inclined to learn trading if the material is presented in an academic style. That’s why I’ve tried to structure the entire course to avoid anything that might confuse a beginner.
Where is the platform headed next?
Currently, it’s a comprehensive library on trading that provides a solid understanding of the profession. After going through the material, anyone can clearly determine whether trading is right for them.
Over time, I plan to add new methods of market analysis: there are a vast number of trading systems out there.
My advice to beginners
The main thing a beginner doesn’t need is unrealistic expectations. Unfortunately, the entire industry tends to create a false impression of the profession, and beginners fall for it. Then comes disappointment over expectations that didn’t pan out.
My advice to anyone just starting out in trading: first, learn about all its pitfalls. Then it will be easier to adapt to a market that is constantly changing.
About the Author
I am an independent researcher in the field of investment decision psychology and behavioral finance. I’ve been a practicing trader since 2013, am the founder of arapov.trade, and am the author of a series of books on trading (ORCID: 0009-0003-0430-778X).
On March 19, 2026, I was invited to give a lecture on stock market trading at the National University of Food Technologies in Kyiv as part of the “Digital Business” educational program.
