Glossary & Field Guide
What every data source is, and how to read the columns — including why some cells are intentionally blank.
Data sources
U.S. House — Congressional Trades
Stock trades U.S. House members disclose in their Periodic Transaction Reports (PTRs), via the House Clerk. We show who traded, the ticker, BOUGHT/SOLD, the date, the disclosed dollar range, and the committees they sit on.
U.S. Senate — Congressional Trades
Stock trades U.S. Senators disclose in their Periodic Transaction Reports, parsed from the official Senate eFD system (efdsearch.senate.gov). Same fields as the House: who, ticker, BOUGHT/SOLD, date, disclosed dollar range. Shown together with the House on the Congress page (Chamber column).
SEC EDGAR Filings
Filings from the SEC's EDGAR system: Form 4 (insider buys/sells by a company's own officers & directors), SC 13D/13G (an investor crossing 5%+ — activist or passive stake), 13F (big institutions' quarterly 'whale' holdings), and 8-K (material corporate events).
FEMA Disaster Declarations
Federally-declared disasters from OpenFEMA — a catalyst for insurers, building-materials, utilities, and recovery contractors in the affected states.
CFTC Commitment of Traders
The CFTC's weekly Commitment of Traders report — net long/short positioning of large speculators in index & commodity futures (S&P, gold, crude oil, etc.).
FINRA Short Volume
FINRA's daily consolidated short-sale volume. The 'short ratio' is shares sold short ÷ total volume; we surface liquid names with an elevated ratio — a gauge of bearish pressure / short-squeeze potential.
FRED Macro (Fed Data)
Federal Reserve economic data (St. Louis Fed) — Treasury yields, the 10y–2y curve, Fed Funds, CPI, unemployment, M2 money supply, VIX, and the dollar — the macro backdrop.
Federal Contract Awards
Large federal contracts (USAspending) awarded to publicly-traded companies — a direct revenue catalyst.
NOAA / NWS Weather Alerts
Active SEVERE / EXTREME weather alerts from NOAA / National Weather Service — relevant to agriculture, energy, and insurers.
Reddit r/WallStreetBets
(optional) Ticker-mention counts on r/wallstreetbets — retail attention. Inactive unless Reddit API credentials are added.
StockTwits Social Sentiment
Trending tickers on StockTwits (a stock-focused social network) with a Bullish/Bearish ratio from recent messages — a retail-attention signal.
Financial News (Google News)
Headline volume per ticker from Google News (free, keyless). For each ticker active in the hub we count articles from the last ~3 days whose headline actually names the ticker (cashtag, symbol, or company name), and keep the latest headline. Shown on its own News page and on each ticker's timeline, but deliberately NOT counted in the conviction score — news fires on nearly every active ticker, so scoring it would only loosen the signal.
Wikipedia Pageviews (Attention)
Daily Wikipedia pageviews for a company's article (free, keyless). We fire only when the latest day is meaningfully above its 30-day baseline (a 1.3x+ spike on a page with real traffic) — an independent 'public attention' signal that pairs with news and social buzz. Value shown as 'x normal'.
Insider Cluster Buys (SEC Form 4)
A synthesis signal derived from SEC Form 4 (no new source): it fires when 2+ DIFFERENT insiders at the same company bought stock within ~60 days. 'Cluster buying' is one of the most studied bullish signals — far stronger than a lone insider. It adds a premium bonus to that ticker's conviction score (it does not count as a separate data source, since it comes from the same SEC filings).
Smart-Money 13F Moves
Quarter-over-quarter position CHANGES by famous, concentrated money managers (Buffett, Burry, Ackman, Tepper, Klarman, Einhorn, Druckenmiller, Tiger, Coatue…), parsed from their SEC 13F-HR filings. We diff the two most recent quarters and flag NEW positions, ADDs (+25%+), TRIMs (−25%+), and EXITs. CUSIP→ticker is resolved via OpenFIGI (free). Only positions ≥ $10M. The DELTA is the signal — what the smart money is doing now, not just what they hold. (13F filings lag up to ~45 days, so treat as positioning context, not real-time.)
FDA Approvals & Recalls
FDA catalysts from openFDA (free, keyless): device PMA APPROVALS (bullish — e.g. Boston Scientific, Abbott, Medtronic, Natera) and drug/device RECALLS (bearish, with FDA Class I/II/III severity). openFDA is full of tiny/private firms, so we match the firm name against a curated list of PUBLIC pharma/med-tech companies and only emit on a match — keeping every signal ticker-accurate.
Analyst Ratings (Upgrades/Downgrades)
Wall-Street analyst rating changes (Yahoo Finance, free) — upgrades, downgrades and initiations with the firm and the grade change (e.g. 'Neutral → Buy'), shown Finviz-style on each ticker page. Upgrades count bullish, downgrades bearish toward the conviction score; initiations are neutral. (Per-analyst price targets aren't available free, so we show the rating change.)
Insider Transactions (SEC Form 4)
Per-ticker insider transactions (SEC Form 4, via Yahoo), both BUYS and SELLS, shown on each ticker page. Scored NET per ticker (distinct buyers vs sellers): net buying leans bullish, net selling leans bearish, a cluster of 2+ buyers is a premium bullish signal and a cluster of 3+ sellers a bearish one. Using the net keeps routine comp-selling from flooding the score while still flagging genuine selling pressure. Grants, option exercises and gifts are excluded. The hub signals in BOTH directions.