These are the terms and metrics we use to track how market conversations evolve. Understanding them helps you read our reports more effectively — and spot things that traditional sentiment tools miss.
A recency-weighted average of coverage tone over 5 days (weights: 7,5,4,3,2). Scored from -1 (strongly bearish) to +1 (strongly bullish). Today's reading counts 3.5x more than a 4-day-old reading.
Sentiment tells you the overall mood of market coverage. But tone can be misleading — articles can sound positive even when the arguments are bearish. That's why we pair it with Balance and Tension.
The ratio of bullish to bearish theme coverage, from -100% (all bearish) to +100% (all bullish). Unlike sentiment, which measures language tone, balance measures what the arguments actually say.
Balance answers a different question than sentiment: "What are people arguing?" vs "How do articles sound?" A market with positive sentiment but negative balance is one where optimistic language masks bearish arguments.
The divergence between sentiment (tone) and narrative balance (arguments). Ranges from 0 (aligned) to 1+ (strongly divergent).
High tension means articles sound one way but argue another. These moments of internal contradiction often precede shifts in market conversation.
The shift in a theme's coverage share over the trailing 3 days versus the prior 3 days, measured in share points (pp) — the last 3 days' share minus the previous 3 days'. A theme that grew from 0 to 8% of an asset's coverage reads +8pp. Measured in share (not raw counts) to normalize for daily pipeline volume, and by absolute points so a theme capturing 80% of coverage outranks a tiny blip.
Momentum tells you which themes are gaining or losing attention, and by how much. High share + flat momentum = saturated. Low share + positive momentum = emerging.
How many distinct stories an asset's coverage is really about, over a 3-day window. We report the effective number of meaningful narratives — e.g. "~4 stories" — the inverse-Simpson count over the narratives that each make up at least 2% of the conversation (a share floor that filters out the long tail of one-off mentions). Few stories = Focused; many = Diverse.
Diversity answers "one story, or many?" — a different axis than direction. A Focused conversation (one or two narratives own the coverage) is a consensus that may already be priced in; a Diverse, contested conversation means the market hasn't settled on what matters, which is often where the uncertainty — and the opportunity — lives.
A theme that appeared recently (<14 days old, <10 mentions). New to the conversation and gaining initial traction.
Emerging themes are where the edge is. They haven't been fully priced in because most participants haven't noticed them yet.
A theme with >+2pp momentum and >3% share. The market is paying significantly more attention than a week ago.
Acceleration is often when a theme starts moving prices, as more participants become aware of and react to the argument.
A theme with >3% share and flat momentum (±2pp). Everyone is talking about it, but the conversation isn't growing.
Saturated themes are priced in. Continuing to react to a saturated theme is following the crowd, not leading it.
A theme with <-2pp momentum. The market's attention is rotating away.
A theme fading while prices haven't adjusted can create a gap between the conversation and the market.
How much different media types (institutional, crypto, mainstream) disagree on direction.
High divergence means the market hasn't reached consensus. Consensus shifts can be abrupt.
An overnight change in coverage tone compared to the previous day.
Coverage shifts are the daily signal that something changed. The market conversation tends to flip quickly when a new event changes the framing.