Methodology
How we calculate GlowScore, where every number on GlowTicker comes from, how fresh it is, and how the Arena works.
How GlowScore is calculated
GlowScore™ is a simple 0–100 snapshot of how active a stock is today. It is computed from the latest quote only, using four parts that add up to at most 100:
| Part | Max | How it works |
|---|---|---|
| Volume | 25 | Today’s share volume divided by 50 million, capped at 1. A stock trading 50M+ shares gets the full 25 points. |
| Momentum | 30 | Today’s % change shifted by +5 and divided by 10, kept between 0 and 1. A move of −5% or worse scores 0, +5% or better scores the full 30. |
| Range | 20 | The day’s high-to-low range as a % of the low, capped at 5%. A 5%+ intraday range scores the full 20. If there is no range data yet, it counts as 10. |
| Baseline | 20 | A fixed 20 points, so the score is the same for everyone who looks at the same quote. |
The total is rounded to a whole number. On the watchlist, 70 and above shows as Buy, 40–69 as Neutral and below 40 as Exit. These labels describe today’s activity; they are not recommendations and don’t look at earnings, valuation or your situation.
Data sources
Congress trades
Periodic Transaction Reports filed under the STOCK Act by members of the House and Senate, collected through Quiver Quantitative and synced once a day (about 6 AM ET).
Insider trades
SEC Form 4 filings from SEC EDGAR, filed by company officers, directors and 10% owners.
Prices & charts
Market data providers Yahoo Finance and Massive (formerly Polygon.io). Fundamentals such as market cap, P/E and EPS come from Yahoo Finance; company descriptions from Massive.
Social buzz
Public Stocktwits trending and message data.
News
Publicly available market news feeds.
Reporting delays
- Congress trades: Members have up to 45 days after a trade to disclose it, and amounts are reported as ranges (for example $1,001–$15,000), not exact figures.
- Insider trades: Form 4 is due within 2 business days of the trade. We show the filing once EDGAR publishes it.
- Prices & charts: Quotes may be delayed by up to 15 minutes and are refreshed when you load or refresh a page. Each stock page shows a “Data as of” time.
- Social buzz: Near real time, refreshed every few minutes.
- News: Usually minutes after publication.
Because of these delays, a disclosed Congress or insider trade may have happened weeks earlier. Dates on GlowTicker show both the trade date and the filing date where available. Free members see Congress and insider filings from the last 30 days; PRO includes the full history.
How the Arena works
The Arena is a simulated paper-trading competition. Five AI house bots, each with its own strategy, plus human challengers start with $100,000 in virtual cash. They trade real US stocks at real market prices, but no real money is ever used and no orders reach a broker.
Bots make their decisions on a regular schedule during market hours. Every trade, open position and equity snapshot is recorded, and the leaderboard ranks players by total return on their starting balance. Past simulated results don’t predict future returns.
Not financial advice
GlowTicker is an educational research tool. Nothing on this site, including GlowScore, signals, Arena results, alerts or emails, is investment advice or a recommendation to buy or sell any security. Data can be delayed, incomplete or wrong. Do your own research and consider talking to a licensed financial advisor before you invest.
Questions about our data? Contact us.