The stock market, without the jargon
Plain-English guides to the setups we trade, plus every finance term used in the app defined in one line.
Guides
A short squeeze in plain English: why a stock can rip higher when the people betting against it are forced to buy back.
6 min read
What the 0–100 squeeze score measures, what the breakout, give-up and stretch levels mean, and when a setup is actually actionable.
5 min read
The signs that selling is exhausted, the difference between a base and a falling knife, and how to wait for confirmation instead of guessing.
6 min read
What RSI actually measures, why 'oversold' is not a buy signal, and the two ways experienced traders really use it.
5 min read
The real differences in time, cost, risk and temperament — and an honest read on which one suits someone with a job.
6 min read
Why extended-hours moves often reverse at the open, what thin volume hides, and which overnight moves are worth acting on.
5 min read
What short interest as a percentage of float actually measures, why days to cover matters more than the headline number, and where the data comes from.
7 min read
Why percentage stops get hit for no reason, how to place a stop at a level the chart cares about, and how position size does the real risk work.
6 min read
A step-by-step way to handle an alert: what to check before entering, where to enter, how to scale out, and when to skip the setup entirely.
7 min read
A practical screen for short squeeze stocks: the exact short interest, days-to-cover, float and volume thresholds worth watching, plus what a real alert looks like.
9 min read
- 1. The verdict. One line at the top of every card: Looks like a buy, Early setup, Wait, or Avoid.
- 2. The reason. One sentence on what is driving that call.
- 3. "Show the numbers." The underlying readings — RSI, MACD, volume — for anyone who wants them.
- 4. The give-up price. The level that invalidates the idea. Below it, the setup is done.
Risk: these tools tilt the odds, they don't remove the risk. Only invest money you can afford to lose.
- 0–27No setup — Not enough buy signals yet.
- 28–44Forming — A signal or two showing up; too early to act.
- 45–64Early setup — Several signals lining up. A reasonable spot for a small starter if you like the name.
- 65+Looks like a buy — Multiple independent signals confirm together — the engine's highest-conviction buy band.
- 0–32Plenty of room — Move still looks young vs. similar past runs.
- 33–65Middle of move — Trend intact; no urgency to trim.
- 66–89Trim soon — Stock has run about as far as similar moves usually go. Odds shift toward trimming.
- 90+Sell or trim now — Move is stretched at or past the historical top zone — sell or trim back.
Each side blends trend, momentum, volume behaviour, volatility and distance from key moving averages, then measures the current move against the stock's own history. Higher score, more agreement. When both sides score closely, the card reads "mixed signals" rather than forcing a call. Decision support, not financial advice.
- Dashboard
- The daily starting point — market pulse and the signals worth a look today.
- Squeeze Radar
- Stocks under heavy short pressure that are coiling near a breakout. Tap a tile for the full story.
- Analyze
- Look up any ticker: verdict, chart, the numbers behind it, latest news, and the short side.
- Watchlist
- Stocks you starred, with live prices. Star anything from an analysis or pick page.
- Strategy Lab
- Test a simple moving-average and RSI rule set against past data before trusting it.
- News
- Headlines that actually move prices, filtered for relevance and freshness.
- Calendar
- Earnings, IPOs and economic events coming up, so nothing blindsides a position.
Squeeze Radar cards show four things in order: how much fuel is built up (0–100), the price it gets going above, the price we give up below, and an optimistic stretch target. A setup sitting under its trigger is "awaiting breakout" — watch, don't act. The scanner re-runs every 5 minutes on weekdays between 4:00am and 8:00pm ET, and the page stamps the last run at the top.
Glossary
(51 terms)Indicators
- RSI
- A 0–100 meter showing if a stock has moved too far, too fast. Below 30 = often 'oversold' (potential bounce). Above 70 = often 'overbought' (potential pullback).
- RSI (Relative Strength Index) compares recent gains to recent losses over the last 14 days. Extreme readings tend to mean-revert.
- MACD
- Shows whether short-term momentum is speeding up or slowing down vs. the longer trend. Crossing up = momentum building. Crossing down = momentum fading.
- Bollinger Band
- An envelope drawn around the price showing its 'normal' range. Price touching the lower band often means it's stretched too low; the upper band means stretched too high.
- Band position
- Where today's price sits inside that 'normal' range. 0% = at the lower band (stretched down). 100% = at the upper band (stretched up).
- EMA
- A smooth line over the price that gives more weight to recent days. Used to see the trend without all the daily noise.
- SMA
- A plain average of the last N closing prices. The classic 'trend' line.
- VWAP
- The 'average price' weighted by trading volume. Pros use it to judge if today's price is a good or bad deal vs. where most volume traded.
- ATR
- How much this stock typically moves up or down each day in dollars. Higher ATR = wilder swings.
- Put/Call volume
- Today's put option volume divided by call volume. Above 1.0 = more bearish bets being placed; below 1.0 = more bullish bets.
- Implied volatility (IV)
- The market's bet on how much the stock will move. High IV = a big event (like earnings) is expected. Low IV = traders expect quiet.
- Volume vs. average
- Today's trading volume divided by the 20-day average. Above 1.5× means unusual interest — something is driving attention to this stock.
- ADX
- A 0–100 reading of how strong the trend is (in either direction). Above 25 = real trend underway; below 20 = choppy/sideways.
- Short interest (% of float)
- The slice of tradable shares currently sold short. Above roughly 20% is high — a lot of people betting the stock falls.
- Days to cover
- How many normal trading days it would take short sellers to buy back all their shares. Higher = a longer, more painful exit for them if the stock rises.
- Borrow rate / fee
- The yearly interest short sellers pay to borrow shares. A jump from a few percent to double digits means shares are getting hard to find.
- Short volume share
- The portion of today's trading that came from short sales. A sudden spike means fresh bets against the stock are piling in.
- Failures to deliver (FTD)
- Trades that didn't settle on time because shares couldn't be found. Repeated failures hint that real shares are scarce.
Core concepts
- Support
- A price level where buyers have stepped in before. Like a floor — price often bounces off it.
- Resistance
- A price level where sellers have stepped in before. Like a ceiling — price often stalls there.
- Swing low
- The lowest price in a recent window (often the last 30 days). The 'bottom' of the current down move.
- Swing high
- The highest price in a recent window. The peak of the current up move.
- Oversold
- The stock has fallen fast enough that a short-term bounce is statistically likely. A tilt in the odds, not a guarantee.
- Overbought
- The stock has climbed so fast that a short-term pullback is statistically likely.
- Exhaustion
- When a move has run so far that buyers (or sellers) run out of steam. Often precedes a reversal.
- Pre-market
- Trading from 4:00am to 9:30am ET, before the regular market opens. Lower volume and bigger price swings.
- After-hours
- Trading from 4:00pm to 8:00pm ET, after the regular close. Often where earnings reactions happen.
- Confidence
- How many signals line up in the same direction for this setup. Higher = stronger evidence.
- Zone
- Where this stock is in its lifecycle — early in the move, mid-move, late, or already at the top zone.
- Win rate
- Of your closed trades, the percentage that finished green. Higher is better, but a small sample can be misleading — give it at least 20+ trades.
- Avg return
- The average gain/loss across your closed trades, in percent. A healthy swing trader usually targets 5–15% per winning trade.
- Realized P&L
- Profit or loss locked in by closing trades — the realised number, not paper gains.
- Unrealized P&L
- Paper profit/loss on trades you still hold open — it moves with the market until you sell.
- Hit rate
- How often our picks finished in the green. We exclude same-day picks (no chance to play out yet).
- Analyst consensus
- The average rating from Wall Street analysts (Strong Buy → Sell). Useful as one data point — analysts are often late to turning points.
- Volatility
- How wild the stock's price swings are, in percent. Higher = bigger daily moves, both up and down — size positions smaller.
- Short squeeze
- When a heavily bet-against stock starts rising, the people who bet against it are forced to buy back — which pushes the price up even faster.
- Squeeze Radar looks for stocks where a lot of shares are sold short, borrowing them has become expensive or impossible, and the price is coiling near a breakout level.
- Float
- The number of shares actually available to trade. A small float means fewer shares to go around, so the price can move violently.
- Awaiting breakout
- Pressure is built up but price hasn't cleared its trigger yet. Watch it — there's nothing to act on today.
- Too late to chase
- The move already happened. Buying here means paying up right where earlier buyers may start taking profits.
Signals
- Volume capitulation
- A panic spike in trading volume — usually means the last sellers are giving up, which often marks a bottom.
- Bullish divergence
- Price made a new low, but the momentum meter didn't. A quiet sign the selling is losing strength.
- Bearish divergence
- Price made a new high, but the momentum meter didn't. A quiet sign the buying is losing strength.
- Insider activity
- Buying or selling by company executives and directors in the last 90 days. Heavy insider buying is often bullish; heavy selling is mixed (can be tax/diversification).
- Fuel
- Our 0–100 read on how much squeeze pressure is built up — short interest, days to cover, float size and borrow difficulty combined. More fuel means a bigger move if it ignites.
- Golden ticket
- Our badge for when everything lines up at once: heavy shorting, shares hard to borrow, and price coiled near its trigger. Rare, and never a guarantee.
- Chatter spiking
- Trading interest and attention jumped well above this stock's normal level today — often the spark before a fast move.
Actions
- Invalidation level
- The price that would prove our buy idea wrong. If the stock breaks below it, the setup is over and we exit.
- Trim
- Sell part (not all) of your position to lock in some profit while letting the rest run.
- Gets going above
- The price level where the setup actually starts working. Below it, the stock is still just coiling — nothing to chase.
- Give up below
- The price that says the idea failed. If the stock trades under it, we stop tracking the setup rather than hoping.
- Stretch target
- The optimistic upside level if the squeeze really runs. Treat it as a best case, not an expectation.
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