Interactive Market Data signal methodology

Audit-grade documentation for every tradeable signal — definitions, trigger logic, academic citations, live calibration grids (gross + net of execution costs), and known caveats — fully reproducible from public SEC data.

accruals_quality_low short forensic
Fires when total accruals exceed 10% of total assets while net income is positive. Captures 'earnings of low cash quality' (Sloan accruals).
beneish_m_score_high short forensic
Beneish 5-factor M-Score above the manipulator threshold (-1.78). Composite of DSO, gross margin, asset quality, sales growth, depreciation.
capex_spike short stress
Fires on >50% YoY capex increase. Captures aggressive reinvestment phases — often precedes value destruction in mature industries.
dividend_initiation long event
Fires when a company pays its first dividend ever. Signals management confidence in cash flow durability.
dso_drift_severe short forensic
Fires on Days Sales Outstanding rising >25% YoY while revenue grows <10%. Channel-stuffing / receivables-quality precursor.
fcf_ni_divergence short forensic
Fires when free cash flow diverges substantially from net income — either NI >> FCF (low-quality earnings) or FCF >> NI (under-reported earnings).
fcf_turn_negative short stress
Fires when previously-positive operating cash flow turns negative — the cash equivalent of profit_to_loss, usually more leading.
fcf_turn_positive long inflection
Fires on the fiscal year a company first generates positive operating cash flow after a stretch of negative or zero. Inflection from cash-burning to self-funding.
margin_compression_severe short stress
Fires on >500 bps year-over-year decline in operating margin. Captures the 'good business getting worse' pattern.
positive_eps_streak long quality
Fires on companies with consecutive years of positive earnings — quality compounder candidates. Surfaces stable franchises with earnings durability, not speculative growth.
profit_to_loss short stress
Fires when a previously-profitable company swings to net loss in the current fiscal year. Often early warning of structural problems.
zombie_alert long stress
Fires on companies with persistent negative free cash flow but still operating — 'walking dead' candidates. Useful as oversold-bounce flag.