Manifesto
We autopsy alpha.
AlphaVandal exists because the question that matters most about any trading signal — is its edge real, or is it just known factors? — is the one almost nobody runs. So we built the engine that does, and we point it at everything, ourselves included.
Most edge is borrowed.
Almost every “signal” is a known factor wearing a disguise — momentum, value, low-vol, size — dressed up and sold as something new. That isn’t fraud; it’s just rarely checked. We check.
Only the residual can be real.
Strip out the factors every quant already owns, and what’s left — the residual — is the only part that can be genuinely original. And even then it has to do one thing: actually predict. Original-but-useless is still useless.
The same gauntlet for everyone.
Famous screens, your uploaded CSV, our own composite — identical method, every time. Point-in-time, survivorship-free, the factor basis disclosed. No signal gets a softer test because we like it.
We publish the negatives — including our own.
The first signal we autopsied was an AI stock-picker we’d spent years building. It came back almost entirely known factors, with a residual that didn’t predict. We shipped that verdict. A platform that won’t debunk itself can’t be trusted to debunk anything.
We never take money from a signal we're judging.
No promoted verdicts, no “sponsored” passes, ever. Credibility is the only asset that compounds, and the conflict-of-interest firewall is absolute. The moment a verdict is for sale, every verdict is worthless.
A verdict, not advice.
We tell you what drives a signal’s returns and whether its original part survives. We don’t tell you what to buy. Diagnosis is honest; tips are not our business.
One signal in, one honest verdict out.