Insights
How to read the market without being sold a story. Explainers on analyzing a company, interpreting filings and disclosures, and understanding what a signal does — and does not — tell you.
Education, not investment advice. Nothing here is a recommendation to buy or sell any security.
Reading the data
How to read SEC filings without reading all of them
Which SEC filings are worth your time, which sections of a 10-K actually matter, how 10-K and 10-Q differ, and the trick that finds the real news faster than reading front to back.
· 5 min read
How to read an earnings report
Earnings reports are written to be skimmed in the wrong order. What to read first, why the beat-or-miss headline is the least useful number in the release, and where guidance actually moves the price.
· 4 min read
How to analyze a stock before you buy it
A practical six-step framework for analyzing a stock before you buy: what the business does, what it earns, what it costs, what the chart says, who else is buying, and what would prove you wrong.
· 5 min read
What the signals mean
How to track congressional stock trades
Congressional trades are public under the STOCK Act, but the disclosure rules make them far less useful than headlines suggest. Where to find them, what the 45-day lag and dollar ranges hide, and what the data can honestly support.
· 4 min read
What insider selling actually means
Insider selling is the most misread signal in retail investing. How to tell a scheduled 10b5-1 sale from a discretionary one, why insider buying carries more information than selling, and what SEC Form 4 does and does not tell you.
· 5 min read
Method & transparency
AI stock analysis tools compared: score, coverage, and what happens when they're wrong
A side-by-side comparison of the main AI stock analysis tools by what they actually output, how much of the market they cover, and whether they tell you what would change their mind. Includes where Synoptiv is weaker than the alternatives.
· 7 min read
How to choose an AI stock analysis tool
The categories of AI stock analysis tool, what each is actually for, and the seven questions that separate a serious research tool from a confident-sounding wrapper. Includes where Synoptiv fits and where it doesn't.
· 5 min read
Can AI analyze stocks? What it does well, and where it fails
An honest account of what AI can and cannot do in stock analysis: it is genuinely good at synthesis across many documents, and it cannot predict prices. How to evaluate an AI stock analysis tool, and the failure modes to check for.
· 5 min read
Investor behaviour
Looking for a specific term?
Synoptiv keeps a plain-English glossary of market and analysis terminology, and publishes analyses of individual stocks that put these ideas to work.