Free places we actually use to learn markets, pull data, and practice. Every link opens in a new tab.
If you've never bought a stock, start here. These cover the vocabulary and how things actually work. Read one through and the early FQS units will make more sense.
Read one of these end-to-end before your first lesson, then come back to it after Unit 1.
Full university courses, most free to audit. Good when you want a deeper take on a topic than the FQS units go into.
Audit Yale's Financial Markets alongside FQS Units 1–3 for a richer take on the same ideas.
Quant work rests on probability, linear algebra, and statistics. These teach the math the pricing and strategy units assume, from scratch.
Work through Strang's first few lectures before the portfolio-math and factor units, it pays off fast.
Learn Python, the core libraries, and the research workflow quants actually use. The FQS research tools are built on most of these.
Pick one dataset on Kaggle and reproduce a simple analysis in pandas, end to end, before touching a live strategy.
Paper-trade with fake money to get a feel for how prices, order types, and your own reactions behave, with nothing real on the line.
Run a $100k paper portfolio for a month and journal every trade and the reason you made it.
Platforms and APIs to build, backtest, and run automated strategies, most with a free tier. Use them to learn, not to get rich quick.
Backtest a single, simple rule on QuantConnect and study where it loses money, that's where the learning is.
The same primary sources professionals use, company filings, live quotes, fundamentals, and macro data, all free. This is also where FQS pulls a lot of the data for its research tools.
Before forming an opinion on any company, skim its latest 10-K on EDGAR and check its ratios on Yahoo Finance.
Finance is quantitative, so run the numbers yourself instead of taking someone's word. These handle compounding, backtests, and portfolio math.
Backtest a simple 60/40 portfolio in Portfolio Visualizer and see how it held up through past downturns.
Working papers and journals where the ideas in modern finance are first published. Most are free, and a few are worth reading closely once the math clicks.
Search SSRN for a topic you just studied and skim one paper's abstract and conclusion, you don't need the maths yet.
Credible sources for what's moving markets, with commentary worth reading rather than clickbait. Read a few that often disagree and weigh them against each other.
Pick two outlets that often disagree and read both on the same story, the gap between them is where you learn.
Budgeting, credit, and the money basics that matter long before your first trade, and long after.
Build a simple monthly budget first, you can't invest money you've already spent.
The agencies and rules behind the markets. Useful for spotting scams and checking who you're dealing with.
Look up any broker or advisor on FINRA BrokerCheck before trusting them with a dollar.
Podcasts and channels worth your time: evidence-based and educational, not get-rich-quick hype.
Watch one Ben Felix video on a topic you just studied to hear it from a second angle.
Places to ask questions and read what others are working on. Forum posts are opinions, not advice, so check claims against a primary source.
Lurk before you post, and verify every claim against a source from the Research & Data section.
The paths into trading, quant research, and finance, and how to prepare for the interviews. Worth a look even if a job is years away.
Practice mental maths and brain-teasers out loud now, trading and quant interviews lean on both heavily.
When you're ready to go deeper, these are the texts worth reading slowly. Several are free and online. Good to pair with the later FQS units.
Pick one and read a chapter a week alongside the later FQS units.
Other competitions worth entering and scholarships worth applying to. Both help on an application and a strong result goes a long way.
Enter at least one competition this year, even placing teaches you more than a month of reading.
FQS isn't affiliated with these sites and links are provided for education only. Always do your own research.