Free Trading Course: Wyckoff Method, Volume Analysis and Smart Money — Complete Breakdown

90 minutes. Over 40 topics. Completely free. This is what 13 years of professional trading looks like when compressed into a single video lesson.

On November 19, 2025, I published what I consider the most comprehensive video in the entire history of my channel: a complete, self-contained trading course — starting from the question "what is an exchange" all the way through live chart analysis using the Wyckoff Method and volume analysis.

The video runs approximately 90 minutes and has accumulated over 1,200 views to date. It is structured as a full educational program — no upsells, no teasers for paid content. Theory comes first, then live practice on real charts.

Watch the full course: "Free Trading Course: Wyckoff Method and Volume Analysis | Smart Money"

This article is a detailed written breakdown of every section in that video — with expanded explanations, the logic behind the structure, and how each topic connects to the broader educational ecosystem I have been building for the past four years.

Why One Single Video?

The @ArapovTrade channel already has 78+ educational videos, each focused on a specific concept. That format made sense to me: one topic, one video.

But the audience sent a different signal. People wanted everything in one place. Not hunting through playlists trying to figure out the right order — just pressing play and going from zero to a functional trading level in a single sitting.

So that is exactly what I built. I took the core of what I teach — the Wyckoff Method, volume analysis, Smart Money concepts, risk management, and trading psychology — and structured it into one lesson with timestamps for every section.

Part 1: Theory — Understanding How Markets Work (00:00–57:43)

What Is Trading? (03:17)

Trading is a profession. Not gambling, not a shortcut to wealth — a profession that demands education, practice, and discipline. The same way medicine or engineering does.

I came into trading at 22, after working as a CNC machine operator in manufacturing. That engineering background gave me a systematic way of thinking, but the salary did not match my ambitions. Trading appealed to me — and then spent years knocking me around before I found consistent profitability.

I am open about this in the video: I lost money for years. I tested every indicator available. I went through the same painful cycle that most beginners experience. The difference is that I did not quit — and after roughly five years of serious study, I found a methodology that actually works.

How Exchanges Work (09:08)

Most beginners have no real picture of what happens the moment they click "buy." This section covers the infrastructure: the exchange itself (I trade primarily on CME — the Chicago Mercantile Exchange), the clearing house that ensures honest settlement, the regulatory bodies overseeing the system, and where the retail trader fits inside all of it.

The core point: you are a small fish in a pool full of sharks. Banks, hedge funds, market makers — they all have larger capital, better information, and faster execution. Your goal is not to outcompete them. Your goal is to identify what they are doing and position alongside them.

Brokers, Forex and Crypto Exchanges (08:07–13:15)

For seven of my thirteen years in the industry, I worked as a financial analyst at a major forex broker, training clients how to trade. That experience gave me a clear view of how brokers operate from the inside: they purchase access to market infrastructure and charge you a spread or commission. That is the entire business model.

Crypto exchanges like Binance have shifted the landscape — you trade directly on the exchange without a middleman. But the underlying mechanics remain unchanged: you are trading against other participants who consistently have structural advantages over you.

Types of Market Analysis: Technical and Fundamental (13:59–24:08)

All trading theory revolves around two approaches: technical analysis (working with price) and fundamental analysis (working with economic data).

An honest evaluation of indicators. I spent roughly two years testing every available indicator inside MetaTrader — Stochastic, MACD, moving averages, Bill Williams' trading chaos, Bollinger Bands. None of them delivered what I was looking for.

The reason is straightforward: every indicator is a derivative of price. They are all calculated using historical price data. RSI is price. MACD is price crossing price. Bollinger Bands are price with a standard deviation applied. You are looking at the same information rendered in different visual formats. Checking temperature with three thermometers simultaneously does not give you better data.

The breakthrough came when I discovered volume analysis — information that is fundamentally different from price, because it shows participation: who is actually trading and how aggressively.

An honest evaluation of fundamental analysis. For a beginner, macroeconomics is overwhelming — interest rates, CPI, PMI, non-farm payrolls, central bank policy. I do not recommend starting there. Once you reach consistent profitability through technical and volume analysis, fundamentals become a natural next step that deepens your market understanding.

Chart Types and Price Data (24:08–26:01)

Bars, Japanese candlesticks, and line charts — three ways to display price. Every bar or candle contains four data points: open, close, high, and low. Candlesticks are color-coded bars that let you read direction instantly.

Trends: Bullish, Bearish, and Sideways (26:01–27:51)

Three market phases every trader must be able to identify: a bullish trend (rising highs and rising lows), a bearish trend (falling highs and falling lows), and a sideways range (price oscillating between support and resistance without clear direction).

The foundational rule that runs through the entire course: your profit as a trader always comes from following the trend. Trading against it is a losing proposition.

Support and Resistance Levels (27:51–28:53)

Levels are not simply lines drawn on a chart. Every support and resistance level carries a deeper meaning tied to institutional activity — which the volume analysis section covers in detail.

Support is a price from which the market previously reversed upward. Resistance is a price from which it reversed downward. These two concepts underpin everything that follows.

Chart Patterns: The Honest Truth (28:53–31:23)

Head and shoulders, triangles, flags, double tops and double bottoms — I cover them all. And I am direct about their reliability: they work roughly 50% of the time, which means they fail the other 50%.

The only pattern family I genuinely find useful is continuation patterns — flags and pennants — because they help confirm that you are positioned within an existing trend. Trend alignment is always the priority.

Volume Analysis: The Primary Method (31:23–37:07)

This is where the course moves from conventional trading education into the methodology I actually use every day.

Exchange volume vs tick volume. Exchange volume from CME shows real contracts that changed hands. Tick volume from retail brokers shows price fluctuations — essentially meaningless noise. I never use tick volume. A CME data subscription runs around $150 per month per instrument — which is exactly why most retail brokers substitute tick volume instead.

Vertical volume (Wyckoff method). Shows total trading volume for each bar or candle period. This is what we use to read institutional intent.

Horizontal/cluster volume. Shows volume distribution at specific price levels within a bar. Useful, but secondary to the Wyckoff approach.

Order Types and Price Formation (37:07–40:05)

Four core order types for retail traders: market buy, market sell, limit buy (bid), and limit sell (ask/offer).

The key principle: price is formed by the interaction of market orders and limit orders in the order book. When sell-side dominates — price falls. When buy-side dominates — price rises. Understanding this microstructure is essential for reading volume correctly.

Iceberg orders. Large institutional players use algorithmic orders that conceal the true size of their position. You may see one contract in the book — behind it sits a massive hidden order that refreshes continuously. This is how institutions accumulate enormous positions without moving price against themselves.

Building a Trading System (40:05–46:31)

A trading system is a defined set of rules you follow in order to generate profit across a series of trades. Without a system, losses are not merely likely — they are mathematically inevitable.

A valid trading system must be statistically verified: tested across a minimum of 100 trades with a profit factor above 1.0 and a documented win rate. Trading without statistics is gambling.

The Priority Shift Level (44:33) is my core structural concept. It is the level from which the market last attempted to form a new high or a new low. When that level is broken, the trend changes. This single concept — identifying the point of trend reversal — forms the basis of every trade I take.

Risk Management (46:31–51:53)

The section that preserves accounts. Position sizing based on percentage risk: 0.5% per trade for beginners, 1% for conservative traders, up to 2% for experienced aggressive traders. Never more than 5% on a single trade.

I walk through the math of variance: even with a 65% win rate, you can experience seven consecutive losses. If each loss is 10% of your account, the account is destroyed. If each loss is 1%, you barely notice. That is why correct position sizing matters more than any indicator.

Trading Psychology (49:46–51:53)

Psychology destroys more accounts than the market itself. Fear of loss, greed, and the hope that a losing position will somehow reverse — these are the real enemies.

A personal example: I once turned $40 into nearly $500, felt like a genius, then held a losing position for three weeks watching everything evaporate. By the final week, I could not bring myself to look at the screen. That experience — which nearly every trader goes through — is the reason I eventually wrote an entire book dedicated to trading psychology.

The solution: trade systematically. When you follow a system with predefined rules, psychology stops being a factor. You become a CNC machine executing a program — not a person making emotional decisions in real time.

The Mathematical Model of Profitable Trading (51:53–54:49)

Three non-negotiable requirements: a stop-loss on every trade without exception, a minimum risk-to-reward ratio of 1:3 (risking 1 to target 3), and a positive mathematical expectancy across the series of trades.

If your system does not meet these criteria — do not trade it. Over 100–200 trades, the mathematics will eliminate your account. There are no exceptions.

Part 2: Practice — The Wyckoff Method on Real Charts (57:43–end)

The Wyckoff Framework (58:23–01:00:15)

Markets move in phases: accumulation (institutions buying), markup (uptrend), distribution (institutions selling), markdown (downtrend). This cycle repeats continuously and indefinitely.

The Smart Money logic: large capital cannot simply buy or sell at will — the position size would move price against them. So they do the opposite of what the crowd expects: buying when everyone is selling, and selling when everyone is buying. Crowd panic provides the liquidity they need to fill their own positions.

Reading Volume Signals (01:00:15–01:06:30)

Selling climax. Ultra-high volume on falling bars — the moment retail traders are panicking and dumping with market orders, while institutions are quietly absorbing that pressure with hidden limit buy orders (icebergs). This is not a signal to buy immediately — it is a signal of institutional interest in that price zone.

A critical warning. Ultra-high volume during a decline does NOT mean buy now. These volume spikes indicate institutional interest, but the accumulation phase takes time to develop. Buying too early is one of the most common beginner mistakes in Wyckoff trading.

No supply / volume exhaustion. When falling bars during an uptrend show volume dropping close to zero — institutions are not selling. They are holding their position and waiting for higher prices. This absence of selling pressure communicates as much as a high-volume spike does.

Spring / Shakeout (01:06:30–01:09:41)

Arguably the most valuable concept in the entire Wyckoff methodology.

Before a trend reversal, institutional capital deliberately triggers a sharp, fast move in the opposite direction — below support during accumulation, or above resistance during distribution. The purpose: to stop out traders who correctly identified the setup but entered too early.

When a stop-loss is triggered, it converts into a sell order. That is exactly the liquidity institutions need to complete their accumulation. The shakeout is intentional. It is designed to flush out weak hands and hand institutions one final batch of cheap contracts.

How to use it. Do not attempt to buy the bottom of a downtrend. Wait for the accumulation phase to develop, wait for the shakeout, then enter after the Priority Shift Level breaks — confirming the new trend direction.

Live Chart Analysis: EUR/USD Futures on CME (Practical Section)

In the video I conduct a full walkthrough of the EUR/USD futures chart, identifying:

Accumulation phase. Falling prices accompanied by ultra-high volume on bearish bars — institutions are interested in lower prices. They are withdrawing support from the market, creating the path of least resistance downward.

Shakeout. A sharp spike below the consolidation zone, triggering stop-losses. Volume confirms heavy activity — stops firing (retail selling), institutions buying.

Priority Shift Level breakout. The level from which the market last attempted to print new lows is broken to the upside. This is the entry signal. Pin bars (bars with long tails) confirm the reversal.

Distribution phase. In the uptrend, ultra-high volume appears on rising bars — now institutions want high prices because that is where they will sell. On falling bars, volume is minimal (institutions are not yet selling). This continues until the next distribution zone, where the cycle reverses.

Pin Bars as an Entry Tool (01:16:53)

Pinocchio bars (named because the "nose" grows during deception, like the fairy-tale character) are bars with long wicks and a small body shifted to one edge. They represent false moves: the market attempted to push in one direction, failed, and reversed.

In a bullish trend, bullish pin bars (long lower wick) mark support levels where stop-losses should be placed. In a bearish trend, bearish pin bars (long upper wick) mark resistance levels.

Trading vs Investing (01:24:36)

My case for active trading over passive investing: you control the risk. An investor who bought Bitcoin at $90,000 and watches it drop to $80,000 is a psychological hostage to that position. A trader with a 1% stop-loss takes a small, defined loss and moves on.

Warren Buffett is one investor in the entire world who consistently outperforms the market — and he runs a diversified portfolio of cash-generating businesses. Buying a single crypto token and calling yourself an "investor" is an entirely different proposition.

News and Black Swan Events (01:21:04)

Never trade during major news releases. Fundamental surprises — Fed decisions, geopolitical shocks, unexpected policy shifts — can instantly reverse institutional positioning.

If you are in a trade when news drops, your stop-loss will protect you. Take the small loss and wait for new structure to form. Never hold through a news event hoping your analysis proves correct. The market does not care about your analysis — it responds to what just happened.

Key Takeaways

For complete beginners. Start with education, not a live account. Practice on a demo account for at least 50–100 trades. Use mandatory stop-losses from your very first trade. Risk no more than 0.5–1% per trade. Follow the trend — never trade against it.

For experienced traders stuck on indicators. Indicators are convenient but misleading. They are all derivatives of historical price data and cannot predict the future. Transition to volume analysis — it shows participation, not just price history.

For anyone serious about the Wyckoff Method. Do not treat Wyckoff as a coloring template. Understand the principle: institutions accumulate when retail is selling, and distribute when retail is buying. Wait for the Priority Shift Level to break and confirm the new trend direction. Enter on pin bars with a defined stop-loss and a minimum 1:3 risk-to-reward ratio.

The Complete Ecosystem

This video course is one component of a full, free educational system:

Written curriculum. 151 articles, 3 languages, 453 URLs: the complete free trading curriculum on arapov.trade — every topic from the video expanded with detailed explanations and examples.

Video library. 78 free educational videos across 9 categories — individual deep-dive videos on each topic covered in the course.

Public track record. 242 published ideas and five years of public analysis on TradingView — methodology applied to real markets since 2021.

Free textbook. The written foundation of this course is available as a complete textbook on Wikibooks (a Wikimedia Foundation platform).

Books for in-depth study. The methodology is formalized in 9 ISBN-registered books (Bowker USA) and 10 DOI publications (CERN/Zenodo):

• "Trading Fundamentals" (Volume 1) — ISBN 979-8-90243-734-5 (EN), 979-8-90243-075-9 (RU), 979-8-90243-730-7 (UK)
• "Trading Fundamentals. Volume 2" — ISBN 979-8-90243-755-0 (EN), 979-8-90243-078-0 (RU), 979-8-90243-732-1 (UK)
• "Trading Psychology" — ISBN 979-8-90243-138-1 (EN), 979-8-90243-081-0 (RU), 979-8-90243-504-4 (UK)

The entire series of books is kept in the collection of the Vernadsky National Library of Ukraine, cataloged as the book series "Fundamentals of Trading".