The safest way to invest or trade is to stick with ETFs.  These are investment vehicles that don't have the earnings date whipsaws and offer smooth and steady volatility.  ETFs are diversified within a specific sector or an industry by allowing you to sleep better knowing the overnight risk volatility is greatly reduced.  They are also great hedging instruments, as you will see in the Swing Trading course.  Before you can run with Futures, you must crawl first. 

Stocks, otherwise known as "equities", are actual digital certificates that give you ownership to a company and the right to all future dividends.  Retail traders often lose sight of that when they frequently go in and out of trades.  I never understood why people spend $250,000 on a new coffee shop they open that might fail, versus investing $250,000 in Apple that continues to deliver 20-25% a year with relatively low risk.  And if Apple underperforms, you just click "SELL" and move on to another stock in two seconds, versus going through the headache of liquidating a business and the human interaction of firing employees. The best component about stocks is they NEVER EXPIRE, unlike Options.  

This is when you realize the power of hedge funds.  Ever wonder how much Fedex and UPS rise when crude oil crashes? Do you follow the inverse relationship of the market (SPY) vs. gold etf (GLD)? Did you ever think of hedging multinational chains like McDonalds (MCD) and Yum Brands (YUM) with the U.S. Dollar due to the majority of their revenue generated overseas in a foreign currency?

Hedging with inverse-related securities is like having car insurance.  Even though it reduces your overall monthly gains, it keeps your mind at rest knowing you are protected by betting on the other side in the event of a crash.  

Are you familiar with the Runner's High? Similarly, this is when a new world will open up once you discover the benefits and the power of Options - the greatest wealth-building instrument created for hedging and lifting one up from poverty.  Despite its major setback of having an expiration date, it greatly makes up for it with leverage it provides.  For example, you can control a $13,050 Apple stock position for only $980, purchasing 2 option contracts and exposing you to a similar type of risk (Delta).   This frees up plenty of cash and allows you to leave your margin buying power untouched.   However, leverage is a double-edge sword, so understanding options in depth and starting out with low risk Deep In-The-Money contracts is the wisest thing to do. Advanced options course will be released in the year 2022.     

Think of Futures as riding a Ducati motorcycle without a helmet in terms of risk.  These are ultra-levered securities that are best used as a hedge rather than speculating outright.  Despite their risky nature, traders flock to them to earn triple digit annual returns.  Due to less than 5% of broker accounts showing consistency in profits, discount brokers began offering "mini-future" instruments to entice traders, ranging from S&P500 to Bitcoin.  Mini-Futures allow you to dip your toe into the commodities and cryptocurrency markets by exposing you to only 1/10th of the traditional futures risk.  While they are phenomenal hedging instruments, daytrading them without laser focus could be deadly as majority of novices blow up their accounts within the first 90 days.