PassCMT learning library

CMT study guides

Work through the evidence, the calculation, and the decision. Each guide connects a concept to an example you can reason through and a self-check you can explain.

Worked examplesDecision rulesCommon trapsExplained self-checks
Start with the exam plan

CMT Exam Guide 2026: Levels, Curriculum, Costs, and a Study Plan

A current, sourced map of the CMT program with all three exam formats, domain weights, registration, charter steps, and preparation.

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Study guide 6 min

CMT Study Plan: Build a Syllabus-Led Routine for All Three Levels

A practical planning guide that turns the current CMT curriculum into weekly reading, recall, chart work, and error review.

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Study guide 5 min

Technical Indicators Explained: How to Choose and Audit a Signal

Learn an indicator-selection workflow using moving averages, momentum, bands, and volume without treating a threshold as a forecast.

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Study guide 5 min

Chart Patterns: A Field Method for Reading Market Structure

Use a repeatable checklist to identify, measure, and invalidate reversal and continuation patterns on charts.

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Study guide 5 min

Dow Theory Fundamentals: Read Trends, Confirmations, and Warnings

A practical Dow Theory primer built around chart observations, the closing price, and the difference between warning and reversal.

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Study guide 5 min

Fibonacci Analysis Workshop: Choose Anchors and Test a Retracement

Practice constructing Fibonacci levels from explicit swings and auditing whether a level added value to a real decision.

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Study guide 5 min

Behavioral Finance for CMT Study: Diagnose a Decision Before a Trade

Use a decision journal to spot anchoring, confirmation, loss aversion, and crowd effects in technical analysis.

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Study guide 6 min

Dow Theory for CMT Candidates: Six Principles, One Coherent Trend Test

Understand each Dow Theory principle and combine averages, closes, volume, phases, and reversal evidence without overclaiming certainty.

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Study guide 6 min

Chart Patterns for CMT Candidates: Structures, Objectives, and Failed Breaks

Compare major reversal and continuation structures with worked objective math and explicit breakout failure rules.

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Study guide 5 min

Technical Indicators for CMT Candidates: Formulas, Signals, and Limits

Compare the construction and interpretation of averages, RSI, MACD, stochastic, Bollinger Bands, and VWAP with original arithmetic.

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Study guide 5 min

Market Breadth for CMT Candidates: Count Participation, Then Test It

Use advance-decline data, new highs, and volume participation to examine whether an index move is broad or narrow.

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Study guide 5 min

Statistics for CMT Candidates: Describe Data Before Testing a Signal

Work through returns, dispersion, correlation, regression, and test design without mistaking association for a trading edge.

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Study guide 5 min

CMT Ethics and Professional Standards: Resolve the Case, Document the Duty

Study the current Code and Standards through practical analyst decisions about evidence, clients, conflicts, and communication.

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Study guide 5 min

Fibonacci Analysis for CMT Candidates: Ratios, Projections, and Wave Context

Calculate retracements and extensions, compare anchor choices, and use Fibonacci relationships as conditional evidence.

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Study guide 5 min

Behavioral Finance for the CMT Exam: Biases and Decision Rules

Identify investor biases, test crowd hypotheses, and build a rule that survives a losing trade.

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Study guide 5 min

Intermarket Analysis for the CMT Exam: Test Cross-Asset Relationships

Compare assets with normalized returns, relative strength, a plausible mechanism, and an invalidation rule.

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Study guide 5 min

Risk Management for the CMT Exam: Position Size to Tail Loss

Calculate a position from a loss budget, then test drawdown, gap, concentration, and VaR limits.

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Study guide 5 min

Volatility Analysis for the CMT Exam: ATR, Bands, and Implied Risk

Compare ATR, historical and implied volatility; work through a VIX range without treating it as a forecast.

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Study guide 5 min

Portfolio Management for the CMT Exam: From Signal to Weight

Build a tactical allocation that respects policy bands, concentration, costs, and rebalancing rules.

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Study guide 5 min

Elliott Wave Theory for the CMT Exam: Counts, Constraints, and Alternatives

Learn motive and corrective waves as a disciplined scenario tool, with an explicit alternate count and invalidation.

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Study guide 5 min

Candlestick Patterns for the CMT Exam: Read Context and Confirmation

Read candle bodies and shadows, then test reversal patterns with trend, location, volume, and invalidation.

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Study guide 5 min

Moving Averages for the CMT Exam: Trend, Lag, and Execution

Compare SMA and EMA, interpret crossovers, and build a trend rule that controls whipsaws and look-ahead bias.

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Study guide 5 min

CMT Level I Study Guide: Build the Technical-Analysis Foundation

Use the official 2026 blueprint to plan Level I, diagnose gaps, and practice applied recall without false pass targets.

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Study guide 5 min

CMT Level II Study Guide: Apply and Defend Your Analysis

Plan Level II around applied chart work, cross-asset interpretation, volatility, model evaluation, and risk.

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Study guide 5 min

CMT Level III Study Guide: Write a Defensible Market Decision

Prepare for integrated cases and mostly short written answers with concise recommendations, risk controls, and timing.

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Study guide 5 min

CMT Exam Study Tips: A Practical Retrieval and Review System

Turn official learning objectives, diagnostics, error logs, and timed practice into a repeatable study routine.

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Study guide 6 min

CMT vs. CFA in 2026: Choose by the Work You Want to Do

Compare curriculum, exam style, charter requirements, and career fit using current official sources.

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Study guide 5 min

Support and Resistance for CMT Candidates: Define Levels and Trade the Failure

Learn to mark price zones, understand polarity, compare arithmetic and log scales, and specify break and invalidation rules.

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Study guide 5 min

Trendlines and Trend Analysis for CMT Candidates: Draw, Validate, Reassess

Use swing structure, chart scale, trendline touches, channels, and failure rules to analyze direction without redrawing history.

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Study guide 5 min

Volume Analysis for CMT Candidates: Participation, OBV, VWAP, and Open Interest

Calculate and interpret common volume measures while separating observed participation from a claim about informed buying.

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Study guide 5 min

Point-and-Figure Charting for CMT Candidates: Boxes, Reversals, Counts

Construct X and O columns, identify a double-top break, and calculate an explicit vertical-count scenario.

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Study guide 5 min

Relative Strength Analysis for CMT Candidates: Ratios, Rankings, and Rotation

Distinguish relative performance from RSI, calculate a benchmark ratio, and build a conditional sector-ranking process.

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Study guide 5 min

Wyckoff Market Phases for CMT Candidates: Evidence, Tests, and Failed Breaks

Interpret accumulation and distribution as hypotheses built from price and volume rather than labels assigned with hindsight.

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Study guide 5 min

Gann Angles and Square of Nine: Supplemental Chart Geometry

Understand the scale dependence and testability of Gann-style price-time constructions while keeping official CMT scope clear.

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Study guide 5 min

Market Cycles and Seasonality for CMT Candidates: Measure Before You Forecast

Distinguish repeating price oscillations from calendar effects, calculate a seasonal average, and test cycle stability.

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Study guide 5 min

Sentiment Indicators for CMT Candidates: Options, Surveys, VIX, and COT

Compare what different sentiment measures actually observe, calculate simple ratios, and define a price trigger before acting.

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Study guide 5 min

Backtesting Trading Systems for CMT Candidates: Specify, Simulate, Challenge

Build a testable rule, calculate trade economics, and detect look-ahead, survivorship, overfitting, and execution errors.

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Study guide 5 min

Position Sizing for the CMT Exam: Match Units to Risk

Compare stop-based, volatility-based, and portfolio-cap sizing with one trade that binds on liquidity.

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Study guide 5 min

Sector Rotation for the CMT Exam: Rank, Allocate, Rebalance

Build a relative-strength sector rotation process that respects absolute trend, concentration, and turnover.

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Study guide 5 min

Options and Technical Analysis for the CMT Exam: Use Volatility Carefully

Connect option sentiment and implied volatility to a chart setup while separating curriculum scope from enrichment.

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Study guide 5 min

Mean Reversion and Momentum: Choose the Market Regime

Compare two opposing strategies through entry, invalidation, costs, and a worked range-to-trend transition.

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Study guide 5 min

Breakout Trading for the CMT Exam: Confirm, Size, and Exit

Define a breakout before the move, then plan confirmation, failed-break handling, and realistic execution.

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Study guide 5 min

Multi-Timeframe Analysis for the CMT Exam: Align Context and Trigger

Use higher, middle, and lower chart intervals for different questions while avoiding duplicated signals.

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Study guide 5 min

Algorithmic Trading for the CMT Exam: Test Rules Before Automation

Turn a chart idea into an explicit system, then examine data leakage, costs, robustness, and live controls.

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Study guide 5 min

Advanced Candlesticks for the CMT Exam: Confirm Multi-Bar Context

Interpret multi-candle patterns through trend, support, volume, confirmation, and a preplanned failed-pattern response.

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Study guide 5 min

Market Microstructure for CMT Candidates: Liquidity and Execution

Understand bid-ask spread, depth, order types, and why a chart signal can fail when translated into an order.

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Study guide 5 min

Trading Psychology for the CMT Exam: Make Discipline Observable

Use precommitment, a decision journal, and process measures to separate emotional errors from ordinary losses.

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