[01/11/26]
Pinch and a punch.
This post is aimed more at students - both in the typical sense and in the sense of those looking at increasing their macro or trading knowledge alongside their main occupational focus and doing so affordably. There are an overwhelming amount of subscription-based services aimed at upskilling, however scanning for a trustworthy practitioner is a minefield.
I’ve put together a list of resources that are absolutely free to use and I genuinely consume them daily/weekly to supplement some of my paid services. I’d suggest that a diet of the below is a great way to familiarize yourselves with this world, without spending a penny and without the luxury of a Bloomberg terminal!
As always - no affiliation or agreement with any of the below.
Daily/real-time tools:
TradingView - Charting software. Free version allows for one fully customisable charting tile. You pay for multi-tile OR live pricing data. Neither needed for learning! Add-ons are plentiful and also free on Reddit and other retail trading forums, to monitor STIRT pricing and other more complex market monitors.
https://www.tradingview.com/
Rate Probability - A free and very UX-satisfying version of the WIRP page that Bloomberg users will be familiar with. Visualising changes in implied market pricing for approaching central bank meetings and some useful historical comparison tools for said pricing.
https://rateprobability.com/
Financial Juice - The supplement to the Bloomberg news alert and data calendar that professional traders swear-by. The free version is delayed by 15mins, but is a great way to aggregate market-moving news flow and get sent down various rabbit-holes as you work through terminologies and decide which markets tickle your fancy.
https://www.financialjuice.com/home
Daily email bulletins:
GGMA Markets Briefing/Macro Roadmap - I worked with Dr Günter Grimm at Credit Suisse and can vouch for his expertise and delivery capabilities. This free marketing tool is more of an AI dashboard distribution, but it is something I have come to rely on. You wouldn’t get the real human for free, but I like his regional prioritisation and layout.
https://ggma-app.com/morning-brief-macro-roadmap
Bloomberg Morning/Evening Americas Briefing - Bloomberg produce many a newsletter but these two in particular I find to be very useful for FX and macro trading, in terms of distribution time and brief content. Great for keeping in the loop on holiday, at the very least.
https://www.bloomberg.com/account/newsletters/morning-americas
Weekly email bulletins & podcasts:
Shadow Price, by Robin Brooks - Robin is the former chief FX Strategist at GS. The weekly emails are very useful - a friend recently put me onto them. The weekly webinars and author-contact are paid-for, but I get a lot of value out of the free weekly emails. Often commodities and interest rates focused, if not EM.
https://robinjbrooks.substack.com/
Brent Donnelly Friday Speedrun - AM/FX is the paid version. If you sign up for the free version, you occasionally receive AM/FX for marketing purposes, but you will receive a weekly ‘Friday Spedrun’ cross-asset run-down.
https://www.spectramarkets.com/sign-up/
Nomura Week Ahead podcast - Dominic Bunning and the Nomura team are fantastic. I have genuinely not missed one of these since starting trading independently and recommend everyone to jump aboard!
https://open.spotify.com/show/7cPWOxfkyb1i8uffx13GDz
The Macro Trading Floor podcast - Brent Donnelly and Alfonso Peccatiello. Strong views - not always tradeable - but an incredible way to stay on top of the hotter topics in markets and ensure you don’t miss anything coming quickly over the horizon. For the more intermediate/advanced.
https://open.spotify.com/show/1mew67liBaxMEs7VPxLoMt