Discipline Pulse
We follow filing rhythm, volume, and consistency to surface where pressure is rising or stability is returning.
Why It Works
The Report Card Advantage
Companies can polish narratives, shape earnings calls, and charm analysts. But filings tell a different story.
They show up on time—or they don’t. They speak clearly—or they revise themselves. They stay engaged—or they go silent.
Filing GPA evaluates seven core dimensions of filing behavior, each graded A–F, and combines them into a single behavioral report card. The result isn’t a forecast or a price target—it’s a read on posture, pressure, and internal control.
This lens doesn’t compete with traditional financial analysis. It sits beside it—adding context, texture, and timing. Fundamentals explain what a company is worth. Filing behavior reveals how it’s operating right now.
Market Filing Volume
How We Grade the Market
Seven Dimensions of Filing Behavior
Individually, these dimensions are diagnostic. Together, they form market posture.
01 Form-Type Quality Mix
What it measures
Form-Type Quality Mix looks at what kinds of SEC forms a company files—not just how often it files. It separates signal from noise.
Signal (core reporting)
10-K, 10-Q, 8-K with substantive disclosures, S-1s, proxy statements—documents that explain financial condition, risks, governance, and change.
Noise (non-core / one-offs)
Administrative filings, repetitive ownership forms, technical corrections, shell activity, or bursts of low-information paperwork.
A high grade means the filing history is dominated by decision-useful reporting. A low grade means motion without clarity.
02 Cadence & Rhythm
What it measures
Cadence & Rhythm measures how consistently a company shows up in the SEC filing system over time—not just whether it files, but whether it follows a predictable, disciplined pattern.
This includes regularity, gaps and silences, clustering behavior, and year-over-year consistency.
A high grade means filings arrive on a steady, expected rhythm. A low grade means the company disappears, reappears, and improvises.
03 Lifecycle Stability
What it measures
Lifecycle Stability measures how long and how deeply a company has been reporting—and whether that history forms a coherent, continuous story.
This includes the length of filing history, continuity over time, depth of available records, and survival across multiple reporting cycles.
A high grade reflects a long, uninterrupted reporting life. A low grade reflects thin, recent, or fragmented presence.
04 Transparency & Market Exposure
What it measures
Transparency & Market Exposure measures how visible and accountable a company is to public markets.
This includes whether it is publicly traded, where it is listed, presence of a ticker and listing class, and how easily the market can observe and price it.
A high grade means the company operates under constant market scrutiny. A low grade means it is technically public but practically opaque.
05 Recency & Freshness
What it measures
Recency & Freshness measures how current a company’s reporting activity is—whether filings feel alive or archived.
This includes time since last filing, consistency of recent activity, ongoing engagement, and signs of dormancy or abandonment.
A high grade means active communication with the market today. A low grade means the filings belong to the past.
06 Amendment Rate
What it measures
Amendment Rate measures how often a company has to correct its own filings after submission.
This includes frequency of amended forms, ratios of amendments to originals, repeated corrections, and clustering of revisions.
A high grade means filings are accurate the first time. A low grade means the company is regularly walking things back.
07 Timeliness / Late Filings
What it measures
Timeliness measures how often a company meets SEC filing deadlines—and how often it doesn’t.
This includes on-time versus late filings, frequency of misses, chronic versus occasional lateness, and delay patterns across cycles.
A high grade means deadlines are respected. A low grade means deadlines are treated as flexible.
The Market’s Body Language, Translated
Behavior moves first
By watching how companies file—not just what they report—Filing GPA helps investors see where risk is building before it becomes a national headline.
Operational stress appears before earnings disappoint. Pressure spreads through sectors before contagion is visible. Erratic filing behavior emerges quietly before bubbles burst.
Prices move fast. Behavior moves first.
Capital Markets Pressure
Amendments, late filings, and quiet stretches reveal stress and financing shifts long before headlines hit.