How StockTop Works

We detect when institutional news and retail traders disagree about a stock. These sentiment signals can highlight situations worth investigating.

The Core Concept

Institutional News

Professional coverage from major financial news sources. Reflects the perspective of analysts, institutions, and business journalists.

Retail Sentiment

Discussions on Reddit (r/wallstreetbets, r/stocks) and trading communities. Reflects retail trader sentiment and social momentum.

News
Crowd
=
Signal

When these two perspectives disagree significantly, we flag it as a signal worth attention.

Types of Signals

Bullish Signal

News is bullish but retail traders are skeptical or bearish.

+Institutional coverage positive
-Reddit/social sentiment negative

May indicate the crowd hasn't caught on to positive developments yet.

Bearish Signal

Retail is bullish but news coverage is negative.

-Institutional coverage negative
+Reddit/social sentiment positive

Retail enthusiasm may be ignoring concerns flagged by professional coverage.

Our Data Sources

News Sentiment

  • Major financial news outlets
  • SEC filings and press releases
  • AI-powered sentiment analysis of headlines
  • Updated multiple times daily

Retail Sentiment

  • Reddit communities (WSB, stocks, investing)
  • Social trading platforms
  • Mention frequency and sentiment tracking
  • Trending momentum detection

Signal Strength

Signal strength quantifies how much news and retail sentiment disagree. Higher scores indicate stronger disagreement.

30-50
Moderate
50-80
Significant
80+
Extreme

Scores are calculated from the gap between normalized news and retail sentiment scores.

What We Don't Do

Predict prices
We surface information gaps, not price targets.
Provide financial advice
Signals are for research only. Always do your own due diligence.
Guarantee outcomes
Signals highlight interesting situations, not guaranteed wins.

Why Sentiment Signals Matter

Markets are driven by information flow. When professional news sources and retail traders have different views on a stock, it often means one group has information or perspective the other is missing.

A "Bullish Signal" might indicate that institutional coverage has picked up on positive developments (earnings beat, new products, strategic moves) that retail hasn't yet priced in.

A "Bearish Signal" might mean retail enthusiasm is running ahead of fundamentals that professional analysts are skeptical about.

Neither signal is a guarantee. But both represent situations where doing additional research might be worthwhile.

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