Market signals
Market-wide signals help decide when to add money to index funds, not which companies to own. These pages explain the fear gauge, the long-term trend line, investor sentiment, and how to read a market overview.
The VIX (volatility index)
What the VIX fear index measures, how it is calculated from S&P 500 options, what VIX levels mean, its history of spikes, and why it tends to mean-revert.
VIX tier allocation
A rules-based strategy that shifts from cash toward stocks and leveraged ETFs as the VIX rises, with its five tiers, rebalancing rules and risks.
The 200-day moving average
Why the 200-day moving average is the most-watched trend line in investing, what the research shows about markets above and below it, and its weaknesses.
The 52-week range
What a stock's 52-week high and low tell you, how to calculate where the price sits in its range, and how to use range position alongside fundamentals.
AAII sentiment survey
What the weekly AAII investor sentiment survey measures, its long-run averages, historical extremes, and how contrarian investors read bearish readings.
Market breadth
What market breadth measures, the common breadth indicators such as advance-decline and percent above the 200-day average, and why narrow rallies are fragile.
Reading a market overview
How to read a daily market overview: the major indexes, sectors, volatility, rates and sentiment, and a short routine that takes five minutes.
Fundamentals vs technicals
The difference between fundamental and technical analysis, what each is good for, and why this site uses fundamentals to choose and technicals only as context.