Module 1: How US Markets Report Themselves

Before you judge any American company, you should know where it is forced to tell the truth. This module introduces EDGAR, the US government’s free public notebook of company documents: what lives there, who must write in it, how fast they must write, and how to read it yourself. By the end, you will be able to find any US company’s official papers in about ten minutes, without paying anyone or asking anyone.

1. The government notebook: why American companies must confess - what the SEC is, what EDGAR is, and why every public company must keep writing in it.
2. The family of forms in one line each - 10-K, 10-Q, 8-K, DEF 14A, Form 4, 13F and 13D, the seven papers you will meet again and again.
3. Deadlines that protect you: who files what and when - from 2 business days for insider trades to 45 days for fund portfolios.
4. EDGAR hands-on: find any company’s filings yourself - a slow, click-by-click walk from the search box to a real document.
5. Filings vs news: why the filing always wins - a news story held up against the actual 8-K it was written from.
6. Your first ten minutes on EDGAR: a guided tour exercise - a timed walk from a company name to a real paragraph, with a notebook.

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