The explanation engine
Why did it move?
Something you hold drops 6%. You check the news and read "risk-off sentiment" or "profit-taking" — phrases that describe the move rather than explain it. Farlens checks twelve measurements at once and shows which one is actually doing the work.
Why "sentiment" is almost never the answer
A price move has a limited set of plausible drivers, and on any given day one or two of them dominate. It might be the whole market. It might be the sector rotating out. It might be money leaving the name specifically while the price holds up. It might be short-selling pressure that doesn't show on the chart at all. It might be a world event repricing the sector's inputs. In crypto it is frequently leverage — a funding rate that got expensive and a cascade of liquidations that followed.
Each of those is measurable, and they leave different fingerprints. A generic explanation is what you get when nobody checked.
What gets checked
All twelve measurements in the signal stack, on every name — equity or crypto — every day:
- Is it the tape? Trend, momentum, and where price sits against its moving averages.
- Is money actually leaving? Money flow index, on-balance volume, accumulation/distribution — price and money flow disagree more often than people expect, and the disagreement is the signal.
- Is it the sector? Relative strength against the sector ETF separates "this name is in trouble" from "everything like it fell".
- Is someone shorting it? FINRA off-exchange short volume — a measurement most retail dashboards never surface.
- Is it leverage? For crypto: open interest, funding rates and liquidations. A move amplified by forced selling is a different event from a move driven by spot selling.
- Is it the world? Chokepoint disruption, conflict and sanctions, mapped to the sectors each event touches.
- Is it the conversation? Engagement-weighted discussion volume, measured against that name's own baseline rather than an absolute.
What a read looks like
The output is the composite score, the components that moved it, and a plain-language reading of which one dominates — followed by the bull and bear case, together.
A worked example of the format. Not a real reading, not about any actual security, and not a recommendation.
| Measurement | Reading | Contribution |
|---|---|---|
| Sector rotation | Sector ETF flat; the name underperformed it sharply | dominant |
| Short volume | Off-exchange short share well above its own average | contributing |
| Money flow | Outflow, but milder than the price move implies | minor |
| Trend | Still above the 200-day | neutral |
| Geopolitical exposure | No active event mapped to this sector | none |
| Narrative | Discussion volume at baseline | none |
Reading: this looks name-specific rather than sector-wide, with shorting pressure rather than broad distribution. The world-events layer contributed nothing — which is itself the answer to "was it geopolitical?"
Stocks and crypto, same question
Crypto gets the same treatment plus the measurements that only exist there. "Why is bitcoin down" very often has a positioning answer rather than a news one: funding rates showed leveraged longs paying to stay in, open interest showed positions being unwound, and liquidation data showed the move being amplified by forced selling. That is a mechanically different event from spot holders selling, and it usually resolves differently. Funding rates explained · liquidations explained.
What this is not
- Not a prediction. Explaining a move that has happened is a different exercise from forecasting one that hasn't.
- Not a recommendation. No buy or sell calls, no price targets, no entry or exit levels — on any surface, ever.
- Not one-sided. Every read carries the bull case and the bear case together.
- Not infallible. Our composite grades WEAK out of sample and we publish that. The measurements are real; the certainty other tools project is not.
Frequently asked
Why is my stock down today?
Usually one dominant driver among the candidates above — market, sector, money flow, shorting, an event, or the conversation. The value is in knowing which, because they resolve differently.
Why is bitcoin down today?
Check leverage before news. Funding, open interest and liquidations explain a large share of sharp crypto moves.
Do I get today's reading for free?
No. Explanation, methodology and history are open — every measurement and weight is published. Live readings on your own watchlist are the product. Join the waitlist.