CMT study guide
CMT · Work through your exam, one topic at a time.
The Chartered Market Technician® (CMT®) designation is awarded by the CMT Association and is described by the association as the preeminent global designation for practitioners of technical analysis. Earning it requires passing all three levels of the CMT Program, accumulating qualifying professional work experience that contributes directly to financial market analysis or investment decision-making, and applying for Professional Membership, which includes submitting professional references to verify work and character. The curriculum is built for portfolio managers, traders, investment advisors, RIAs, investment strategists, research heads, and chief investment officers who want a structured foundation in technical analysis of financial markets, with coverage extending into behavioral finance, risk management, and quantitative strategies. Exams are offered twice a year, in June and December. The CMT study guide has 4 sections and about 1,361 words.
01Technical Analysis of Financial Markets
Technical analysis treats price, volume, and open interest as the primary evidence about supply and demand. The foundational idea is that trends persist until a reversal is confirmed.
371 words, about 2 min02Behavioral Finance
Behavioral finance replaces the rational-agent assumption with descriptive models of choice. Prospect theory holds that people evaluate outcomes as gains or losses relative to a reference point, are risk-averse over gains, risk-seeking over losses, and weigh losses roughly twice as heavily as equivalent gains (loss aversion).
340 words, about 2 min03Risk Management
Risk management converts exposure into a bounded loss budget. Value at Risk states the loss not expected to be exceeded at a given confidence over a horizon; it is not a worst case, is not subadditive, and says nothing about the size of the tail beyond the threshold.
329 words, about 2 min04Quantitative Strategies
A quantitative strategy specifies a universe, a signal, a portfolio construction rule, and an execution assumption. Signals are typically ranked cross-sectionally (momentum, value, quality, low volatility) or used in time series (trend following, mean reversion).
321 words, about 2 min