trading/shared/curriculum/colette-track.md

# Colette's Learning Track — Market Observer

**Background:** News-aware, macro-focused, strong intuition for market narratives
**Role:** Observe and flag — identify macro themes, news catalysts, sector strength, and trade ideas

The goal is to build on the market awareness you already have and give it a framework.
You're not learning to trade from scratch — you're learning to translate what you see into
structured ideas that can be tested and acted on.

---

## Phase 1 — Chart Literacy (TradingView Basics)

**Goal:** Read a chart and understand what it's showing — no indicators yet

- [ ] What a candlestick shows (open, high, low, close)
- [ ] What timeframes mean (daily vs weekly vs monthly)
- [ ] How to spot a trend (is price making higher highs, or lower lows?)
- [ ] What volume tells you (is this move significant?)
- [ ] How to use TradingView: add a ticker, change timeframe, draw a line
- [ ] What a 52-week high/low means and why people watch it

**Exercise:** Pull up 3 tickers. For each: is it in an uptrend, downtrend, or sideways? Is volume rising or falling?

**Milestone:** Can look at a chart and describe what the price is doing

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## Phase 2 — News & Macro Awareness

**Goal:** Connect the news you're already reading to what it means for price

- [ ] What the Fed does and why interest rates matter to stocks
- [ ] What earnings season is and how it affects price
- [ ] What sector rotation means (money moving from tech → energy, etc.)
- [ ] Understanding the difference between a news catalyst and a hype cycle
- [ ] How to cross-reference a news story with the actual chart — was the move already priced in?
- [ ] The DXYZ case study: what premium-to-NAV means, and what the historical pattern looks like

**Key habit:** When you see a headline or hear a recommendation, check the chart first:
1. Did the price already move before this news broke?
2. What's the proposed exit — where would you get out if wrong?
3. What does the broader sector look like?

**Exercise:** Read a financial headline and check the chart of the ticker mentioned. Write one sentence: did the chart confirm the story, or had the move already happened?

**Milestone:** Can explain why the DXYZ premium exists and what historical precedents look like

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## Phase 3 — Sector & Macro Indicators

**Goal:** Know the high-level picture before looking at individual stocks

- [ ] The major S&P 500 sectors (XLK, XLE, XLF, XLV, etc.) and how to track them
- [ ] What the VIX is and what elevated fear looks like on a chart
- [ ] How to read a sector heatmap (TradingView has one built in)
- [ ] What the yield curve is (simplified: are long rates higher than short rates?)
- [ ] Dollar strength (DXY) and its relationship to commodities and international stocks
- [ ] How to identify the strongest sector and focus there

**Exercise:** Every Sunday, look at the sector ETFs for the past week. Which sector was strongest? Which was weakest? Write it down. Do this for 4 weeks in a row.

**Milestone:** Can give a 2-minute sector summary each week

---

## Phase 4 — Generating Trade Ideas

**Goal:** Turn observations into structured, communicable ideas for Bill to evaluate

A strong trade idea connects what you're seeing in the news or macro picture to what's happening on the chart.

**Example:**
- Weak: "I read that SpaceX is doing something big."
- Strong: "XLK has been the strongest sector 3 weeks running, NVDA just broke to a new 52-week high on heavy volume, and earnings are in 3 weeks — might be worth a look."

**Format for flagging an idea:**
```
Ticker: 
Why I noticed it: (news, chart, sector strength)
What the chart looks like: (uptrend / breakout / pullback to support)
Timeframe: (daily / weekly)
Questions for Bill: (anything to backtest or dig into)
```

- [ ] Submit 2 trade ideas per week using the format above
- [ ] Review together: did the idea have merit? What happened?
- [ ] Build a personal watchlist of 10–15 tickers you understand well

**Milestone:** 8 trade ideas submitted, at least 3 that Bill validated as having a testable edge

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## Phase 5 — Prop Challenge Support

**Goal:** Be the eyes during the trading day while Bill's system runs

- [ ] Monitor the watchlist for news that could affect open trades
- [ ] Flag upcoming macro events (Fed meeting, CPI report, earnings)
- [ ] Keep a simple daily log: what happened in the market today (2–3 sentences)
- [ ] Review open positions: is the original thesis still intact?

**Milestone:** Consistent daily market log for 30 days

---

## Recommended Resources

| Resource | What It's Good For |
|----------|-------------------|
| TradingView (free) | Charts, sector heatmap, economic calendar |
| Finviz.com | Sector/market overview at a glance |
| FRED (St. Louis Fed) | Real macro data — interest rates, inflation, jobs |
| Investopedia | Clear definitions for any term |

**A useful filter for any recommendation you encounter:** Does the person showing you this also show you the data behind it? A good idea holds up to a chart check.