User Guide & FAQ
Complete reference for understanding and using InvestCompass
Dashboard
The Dashboard provides an immediate overview of market conditions, important signals, and relevant news. It centralises alerts, upcoming events, sector movements, and portfolio performance. Its purpose is to allow you to understand in seconds what deserves your attention and what actions could be considered.
The Signal System
Each Security receives one of five signals based on its composite score and market context:
BUY Zone — Very high composite score (≥ 80/100). Strong across most dimensions: positive sector, solid fundamentals, confirmed technical trend.
PARTIAL BUY Zone — Good score (≥ 65/100). Positive overall with a few mixed signals. Suitable for gradual entry.
NEUTRAL Zone — Borderline score (≥ 45/100). Mixed signals — monitor the stock as conditions may improve or deteriorate.
PARTIAL SELL Zone — Deteriorating score (≥ 25/100). Technical signals weakening or valuation stretched. Consider trimming a position.
SELL Zone — Low composite score (< 25/100). Multiple dimensions negative: weak sector, poor fundamentals, technical breakdown. Exit or avoid.
Signal Modulation (Cost Basis)
If you have entered your purchase price for a watchlist stock and the current market price is below that price (you are at a loss), InvestCompass automatically adjusts SELL and PARTIAL SELL signals to NEUTRAL. This prevents you from acting on a short-term negative signal when selling at a loss may not be in your best interest. The original signal is always shown alongside the adjusted one.
Scoring System
The composite score (0–100) is built from four weighted pillars:
Sector Analysis (default LT 20%, MT 30%) — Evaluates sector trend, sector rotation, the sector's relative strength within the market, its 52-week position, and the alignment of the sector's phase with the broader sector cycle.
Fundamental Analysis (default LT 45%, MT 25%) — Combines growth (revenue/earnings), profitability (margins, ROE), leverage (debt ratios), cash flow quality, and valuation (P/E, P/B vs. peers). Each sub-factor is adjustable on the Advanced plan.
Technical Analysis (default LT 15%, MT 30%) — Evaluates 5 criteria: Trend (3-MA alignment), Momentum (MACD confirmation), 52-Week Position (high/low range), Rebound from 52-week low, and the short-term Stochastic overbought/oversold factor. A security near the bottom of its 52-week range with an uptrend and strong fundamentals receives a score bonus.
4 Coherence Rules
Once the score is calculated, 4 coherence rules automatically cap the final signal to ensure consistency across the analysis blocks:
Fundamental AVOID → signal capped at PARTIAL SELL
Macro Zone Retournement → signal capped at NEUTRAL
Sector LAGGARD → signal capped at PARTIAL BUY
Technical Signal SELL → signal capped at NEUTRAL
Investment Profiles
Two predefined profiles configure scoring weights and moving average periods in one click:
Medium Term (MT) — Macro 15%, Sector 30%, Fundamental 25%, Technical 30%. Moving averages: 20/50/100 days. Balanced profile for investors with a horizon of a few weeks to 12 months.
Long Term (LT) — Macro 20%, Sector 20%, Fundamental 45%, Technical 15%. Moving averages: 50/100/200 days. Emphasises fundamental quality for investors with a horizon of 12 months or more.
Economic Regime
The system monitors five macroeconomic signals:
GDP Growth — Rate of economic expansion or contraction
Employment — Job market health and unemployment trends
Inflation (CPI) — Consumer price levels and trend direction
Monetary Policy — Central bank rate trajectory (tightening vs. easing)
Market Cycle — Equity valuations versus long-term historical averages
These signals determine one of 4 economic regimes (Expansion, Slowdown, Recovery, Recession) which guides the macro context and exposure limits. During a recession, the system becomes more conservative.
VIX & Market Sentiment
The VIX (CBOE Volatility Index) measures the market's expectation of near-term volatility:
Below 15 — Ultra Calm. Very low volatility, complacent market. Signals are reliable but stay alert for regime shifts.
15 to 20 — Clear Skies. Low volatility, normal market conditions. Standard signal confidence.
20 to 30 — Dark Clouds. Elevated uncertainty. Signals remain valid but exercise caution on position sizing.
Above 30 — Storm Warning. High market stress. Consider defensive positioning and reduced equity exposure.
Sector Rotation
The sector table tracks 11 GICS sectors for both S&P 500 and S&P/TSX. For each sector you can see the Trend (price action vs. moving averages), Momentum (rate of change and RSI), and 52-Week Range (where the current price sits between its annual low and high).
Rotating into sectors with Uptrend + Bullish momentum and away from Downtrend + Bearish sectors improves risk-adjusted returns over time. The summary card at the top of the page gives you an instant read on overall market posture.
Watchlist
Add stocks you are monitoring. For each stock you can set a Purchase Price (your cost basis, used for signal modulation) and a Target Price Range (your entry minimum and exit maximum). If you have not yet purchased the stock, leave the price blank — the standard signal will apply without modulation.
Portfolio
Virtual Portfolio — Simulate trades with paper money to test strategies and track hypothetical performance without risk. Real Portfolio — Log your actual transactions with date, quantity, and price. The system calculates your current P&L and applies live signals to your holdings.
Fundamental Analysis Comparison
The Fundamental Comparison module lets you compare up to 5 stocks side-by-side across seven key financial metrics. Enter any ticker symbol and add it to your comparison set. For each stock you see: P/E, EV/EBITDA, Price-to-Book, Gross Margin, Net Margin, ROE, and Revenue Growth — along with year-over-year deltas for the margin metrics.
A second table shows how each stock compares to the average of its sector peers for P/E, Gross Margin, Net Margin, and ROE. Green means the metric is favorable relative to the sector average; red means it lags. Each stock also receives a bilingual text summary highlighting its relative strengths and weaknesses.
Market Overview
The Market Overview page gives you a real-time picture of the overall market environment. It shows live indices for the S&P 500 and S&P/TSX, commodities and FX rates, the VIX zone (Clear Skies / Dark Clouds / Storm Warning), the macroeconomic regime (Expansion, Slowdown, Contraction…), market valuation (P/B ratio), and macro diagnostics such as breadth, yield curve, and risk-on/risk-off ratios.
The system covers both S&P 500 (US) and S&P/TSX (Canadian) markets and updates signals regularly based on real-time and fundamental data.
InvestCompass Lists
The InvestCompass Lists section bundles seven ready-to-use lists, shared across all users and refreshed once per day at the market close: Top 50 Dividend S&P 500, Top 50 Dividend S&P/TSX, Top 50 Fundamental S&P 500, Top 25 Fundamental S&P/TSX, Top 50 Technical S&P 500, Top 50 Technical S&P/TSX, and iShares Sector ETFs (US + CA). Each list reuses our scoring engines (fundamental, sector, technical) to rank the best securities by the chosen criterion.
The stock lists scan the full market universe (~500 tickers for SPX, ~250 for TSX). The first user of the day triggers a calculation that takes 1–2 minutes; the result is then cached globally and served instantly to every user until the next market close (4:30 PM ET), at which point the list is automatically refreshed once per day. For that reason no list is loaded automatically: you must explicitly pick the list you want to trigger the computation. The iShares Sector ETFs list covers only ~30 ETFs and loads in a few seconds.
Stock Screener
The Screener (Essential and up) filters the entire SPX & TSX universe by global score, sub-scores, market capitalization, P/E ratio, sector and more. Use it to surface candidates that match your criteria, then open any result to see its full analysis. The universe is rebuilt automatically so results reflect the latest scores.
FAQ
Frequently asked questions about InvestCompass
General
What is InvestCompass?
InvestCompass is a Fintech SaaS decision-support application designed for autonomous investors. It transforms complex financial data (macroeconomics, sectors, fundamentals, trends) into explainable, comparable and action-oriented scores, helping users make clear, consistent and reproducible investment decisions.
Does InvestCompass provide automatic buy or sell recommendations?
No. InvestCompass does not give ready-made buy or sell orders. It provides a structured decision framework that explains the why behind each score and signal, so the user remains fully responsible for their decisions while reducing emotion and information overload.
Who is InvestCompass designed for?
InvestCompass is primarily designed for: intermediate and advanced autonomous investors aged 20–65 who manage their own portfolio, who want to understand the drivers of performance and risk, and who are frustrated by tools that are either too complex or too superficial.
Does InvestCompass replace a financial advisor?
No. InvestCompass is a decision-support tool, not a personalized advisory service. It allows autonomous investors to better structure their reasoning, test hypotheses and maintain discipline, while remaining the master of their choices.
Can I place buy or sell orders directly from InvestCompass?
No. InvestCompass does not allow order execution. All transactions must be carried out exclusively through your banking app, brokerage platform, or other authorized execution service. InvestCompass is neither a brokerage nor an execution intermediary — its role is limited to helping structure the decision (analysis, scoring, signals, simulation).
How It Works
How does InvestCompass work in practice?
The application follows a guided decision chain: (1) Macroeconomic context analysis → (2) Sector analysis and comparison → (3) Fundamental company evaluation → (4) Stock selection → (5) Trend and timing analysis → (6) Action decision (strengthen, monitor, reduce) → (7) Simulation via virtual portfolio → (8) Tracking via real transaction log.
What are the main modules of InvestCompass?
InvestCompass is organized into interconnected modules, all reachable from the sidebar: (1) Dashboard — synthesized overview of the market and your signals; (2) Markets — indices, VIX zone and the 4-regime macro analysis; (3) Sectors — SPX & TSX sector ETF rotation; (4) Watchlists — your own tracked stocks with daily score updates; (5) InvestCompass Lists — ready-made ranked lists rebuilt automatically (Essential+); (6) Signals & Alerts — prioritized, confidence-gated notifications; (7) Portfolio — virtual simulation and real transaction log (Essential+); (8) Screener — filter the full SPX & TSX universe (Essential+); (9) Fundamental Comparison — side-by-side peer analysis (Essential+); and (10) Trading Plan — position sizing and stop-loss planning (coming soon).
What is the InvestCompass scoring system?
Scoring transforms heterogeneous financial indicators into intermediate scores (macro, sector, fundamental, timing) and then into a normalized global decision score (e.g. out of 100). Each score is explainable, traceable and comparable.
Scoring & Customization
Can I understand why a stock has a good or bad score?
Yes. Explainability is a core principle of InvestCompass. Users can see the contribution of each module, the dominant positive or negative factors, and the impact of weightings on the final score.
Can I customize scoring weightings?
Yes, depending on your subscription plan: Basic — fixed default weightings (read-only); Essential — adjust the weightings between the Macro, Sector, Fundamental and Technical blocks; Advanced — fine-tune internal weightings, including technical sub-indicators and index weights, with your own investment profile.
Regulatory & Legal
Is InvestCompass compliant with Canadian and American regulatory frameworks?
InvestCompass is designed to operate as a financial information and decision-support tool — not as a regulated advisory or brokerage service — placing it outside the scope of obligations applicable to registered financial advisors in both Canada and the United States. The application voluntarily adopts non-prescriptive terminology, methodological transparency, and functional safeguards to avoid any regulatory confusion.
Is InvestCompass responsible for decisions made by the user?
No. The user remains entirely responsible for their decisions, their financial consequences, and their compliance with their personal situation. InvestCompass provides an analytical framework, not a delegated decision-making service.
Join InvestCompass today and start making data-driven investment decisions.