Signal glossary

Every term on the desk, in plain English.

No jargon left undefined. If the engine uses it or the brief mentions it, it's here.

Technicals

Composite score: A single 0–100 number folding all eight engine inputs together. The headline read on a name.
Component scores: Each of the eight inputs normalised to 0–100 before weighting, so a MACD of 84 and an RSI of 58 sit on the same scale. RSI is the one input whose raw value happens to already live on that scale.
Edge score: A second 0–100 read that discounts the composite by expected-value factors: R:R, catalyst distance, and how extended the name already is. A 91 composite with a 52 edge means strong setup, mediocre expected value.
RVOL: Relative volume: today’s pace measured against the 20-day average. Above 2× is real participation.
Bollinger squeeze: A volatility low where price bands compress, flagging a coiled name about to expand.
ATR: Average true range; the typical daily move, used to size every stop and target.

Flow

Sweep: A single options order filled across multiple exchanges at once: urgency, usually one informed buyer.
Dark-pool print: A large block crossed off-exchange. Prints above VWAP read as accumulation, below as distribution.
Net call premium: Dollar premium paid for calls minus puts. Our cleanest gauge of directional conviction in the options tape.
Gamma squeeze: A feedback loop where dealer hedging of short calls forces them to buy the underlying, accelerating the move.

Catalysts

PDUFA: The FDA’s decision deadline on a drug application: a hard, calendar-fixed binary event.
Earnings window: The session and after-hours around a report, when realised volatility and gap risk spike.
Form 4: An SEC insider-transaction filing. Clustered open-market buys are the signal worth reading.
Index reconstitution: Scheduled additions and deletions that force mechanical buying and selling from passive funds.

Value

Trailing P/E: Price divided by the last twelve months of earnings. Slow, history-looking multiple.
Forward P/E: Price divided by consensus next-twelve-months earnings. Our preferred value read when available.
CHEAP / FAIR / RICH: Vs the sector median forward PE on the scored board (≤0.8× cheap, ≥1.25× rich). Falls back to trailing PE or absolute bands if no sector median.
Value × rotation: Whether momentum-leading sectors are trading at cheap or rich multiples — chase risk vs mean-reversion setup.

Risk & sizing

R : R: Reward-to-risk: distance to target divided by distance to stop. Public ENTRY requires R:R ≥ 1.0.
Earnings-adjusted stop: A stop widened to sit outside the expected earnings move, so a known event can’t knock you out at random.
Borrow fee: The annualised cost to short a name. A spiking fee signals crowding, and squeeze risk.
Book heat: Total open risk across your positions as a share of capital. The number that tells you when to stop adding.
Kill switch: The pre-defined exit attached to every cleared name: the line at which the thesis is simply wrong.