Twenty topics, in the order they build on each other

What a market is, and the economic conditions that move prices.

• 01What a financial market actually isStart hereA market is an arrangement for transferring claims on future cash flows. How Moroccan institutions, secondary liquidity, and the 2016 reforms make it work.12 jan. 20264 min
• 02Inflation: what it is, and why it is not a price riseStart hereA sustained rise in the general price level across the economy. How the CPI is measured, why single commodity jumps differ, and Moroccan inflation dynamics.16 jan. 20264 min
• 03Interest rates and how they reach pricesStart hereThe price of borrowing money, nominal versus real rates, the Fisher equation, and the monetary transmission chain reaching Moroccan bond and equity prices.19 jan. 20263 min
• 04Supply and demand: the mechanism behind the priceStart hereEvery market price settles where opposing intentions meet. How shifts in supply and demand move Moroccan asset prices, oil, fish, and Treasury yields.14 jan. 20264 min
• 05Economic cycles: why conditions change togetherStart hereActivity expands and contracts, tying output, credit, and asset prices together. What drives cycles and how the 2016 agricultural harvest illustrated real shocks in Morocco.22 jan. 20264 min

What you actually own when you own something, and what it entitles you to.

• 01Stocks and what a share actually entitles you toA share is a contractual claim on future corporate cash flows, junior to all creditors. Ownership structures on the Bourse de Casablanca and the arithmetic of equity valuation.26 jan. 20264 min
• 02Bonds and fixed income: the mechanics of lendingA bond is a contract to lend capital in exchange for agreed coupons and principal repayment. Moroccan Treasury auctions, yield duration, and Sukuk issuance.29 jan. 20264 min
• 03Market capitalisation and what it does not tell youOne number sizing a company, not its valuation. How free float governs the Moroccan MASI index, and why price-earnings multiples require context.2 fév. 20264 min

How a price is thought about — from past prices, from fundamentals, from behaviour.

• 01Technical indicators: what they can and cannot seeMathematical transformations of past prices and volumes into trading indicators. The dangers of curve-fitting and the limits of technical analysis in Moroccan markets.9 mar. 20264 min
• 02Fundamental analysis: forecasting cash flows, not opinionsEstimating intrinsic business value from cash flow generation, balance sheet safety, and competitive moats under Moroccan PCGM and IFRS reporting.12 mar. 20264 min
• 03Behavioural finance: the biases that cost you moneyStandard finance assumes rational agents. How loss aversion, the disposition effect, and herd behavior systematically distort trading decisions on the Bourse de Casablanca.16 mar. 20264 min

How an intention becomes a fill, and what it costs you to get one.

• 01Market orders, and what it costs you to stop waitingStart hereThe instruction delegating price to the market to guarantee execution. How the Casablanca electronic trading engine handles continuous trading and depth.5 fév. 20263 min
• 02Limit orders: putting a price on your patienceStart hereThe order type placing a ceiling on purchase price and a floor on sales. Order validity, queue priority, and adverse selection on the Casablanca exchange.9 fév. 20264 min
• 03Slippage: why your price is not the quoted priceStart hereThe gap between the observed screen price and the actual executed fill. How spread, depth, and market impact affect large orders on the Casablanca exchange.12 fév. 20263 min

Recording outcomes correctly, so a portfolio can be read back honestly.

• 01Realized and unrealized profit and lossStart hereThe vital difference between paper mark-to-market valuations and locked cash gains. Moroccan brokerage commissions, exchange fees, and the 15% capital gains tax.16 fév. 20263 min

Measuring risk, and deciding how much of it to carry.

• 01Volatility: measuring how much a price movesStart hereThe standard deviation of returns, annualization across trading sessions, volatility clustering, and the dispersion of Moroccan equity sectors.19 fév. 20263 min
• 02Risk and return: what you are actually being offeredRisk is compensation for bearing uncertainty, not a punishment. The Moroccan risk-free benchmark, the equity risk premium, and Sharpe ratio evaluation.23 fév. 20263 min
• 03Diversification, and what it does not protect you fromDiversification reduces idiosyncratic risk while leaving systematic risk untouched. Sector correlations on the Bourse de Casablanca and the Markowitz frontier.26 fév. 20263 min
• 04Portfolio allocation: deciding the weights before it mattersThe decision that dominates 90% of investment variation. Institutional allocation models in Morocco, pension fund constraints, and systematic rebalancing.2 mar. 20263 min
• 05Portfolio risk: drawdown, the number that mattersStart hereMaximum drawdown is the path-dependent loss measure investors actually experience. The asymmetric arithmetic of recovery and AMMC stress testing requirements.5 mar. 20264 min