Data & Methodology

How the numbers
are actually computed.

No black boxes. Here is exactly where the data comes from, how every statistic is calculated, and where the honest limits are.

The data pipeline

Three steps, no hidden layer.

Every seasonal statistic on TimingAX follows the same pipeline. There's no proprietary "secret sauce" obscuring where a number comes from — it's straightforward, and it's described here in full.

1
Fetch real prices
When you analyze an asset, TimingAX requests up to 15 years of real monthly closing prices from public market data (via Stooq's historical price feeds). No API key, no paywalled data — the same data anyone can pull.
2
Compute monthly returns
For every consecutive pair of monthly closes, we calculate the percentage return: (this month − last month) ÷ last month. Each return is tagged with its calendar month (Jan–Dec) and the year it occurred.
3
Group & average
All "September" returns across every year in the window are grouped together. We compute the average return and the win rate — the percentage of years that specific month was positive. Repeat for all 12 months.

That's it. There is no smoothing, no curve-fitting, and no selective date ranges chosen to make a pattern look stronger. The window is always "as many of the last 15 years as data exists for," applied identically to every asset.

Data badges

What VERIFIED and
MODELLED mean.

Every analysis on TimingAX displays a small badge telling you exactly which kind of data you're looking at. We show this everywhere — the Analyzer, Backtest, Screener, Watchlist, and Correlations — because the difference matters.

✓ VERIFIED · REAL PRICE DATA · 15YR

The statistics were computed directly from real historical monthly closing prices for that specific asset, using the pipeline above. This is the default for major indices, large-cap stocks, ETFs, and Bitcoin/Ethereum.

MODELLED PATTERN DATA

Real price history wasn't available for this specific asset (typically smaller international tickers without reliable free data feeds), so the statistics come from a sector-level seasonal model instead. We show this badge rather than silently substituting — you always know which one you're looking at.

Coverage

What's verified today.

Real-data coverage depends on what free public price feeds carry reliably. Here's the current state, honestly:

Asset class
Coverage
Notes
US indices & ETFs (S&P 500, NASDAQ, SPY, QQQ, sector ETFs)
Verified
Full 15-year real history
US large-cap stocks (AAPL, MSFT, NVDA, TSLA, etc.)
Verified
Full 15-year real history
Bitcoin & Ethereum
Verified
Real history since each asset's listing
UK & German indices (FTSE 100, DAX, etc.)
Verified
Full real history
Major Asia indices (Nikkei, Hang Seng, KOSPI, Sensex)
Verified
Full real history
Smaller international & regional stocks
Partial
Falls back to MODELLED where feeds are unreliable
Per-tool breakdown

How each of the
9 tools uses data.

Tool
Data type
Notes
Seasonal Analyzer
Real prices
Computed live per asset, VERIFIED badge shown
Strategy Backtest
Real prices
Year-by-year returns from actual history; year range auto-clamped to available data
Seasonal Screener
Real prices
Ranks a curated universe of 24 liquid assets by real current-month performance
Watchlist
Real prices
Each tracked asset resolved to real data where available
Seasonal Correlations
Real prices
Both assets resolved to real monthly returns before correlating
Event Studies
Curated research
19 hand-researched historical events (Fed decisions, crashes, halvings) with documented market outcomes
Earnings Analysis
Curated research
26 real historical earnings reports with documented price reactions
This Month in History
Curated research
Written essays on real historical market events by calendar month
Economic Calendar
Live computed
FOMC/CPI/NFP dates computed from known schedules, countdowns calculated in real time
Honest limitations

What this isn't.

Seasonality is a real, well-documented statistical phenomenon — but it is a tendency, not a law. Here's what we want every user to understand before relying on it:

01
Past patterns can break
A pattern holding for 10–15 years doesn't guarantee it holds next year. Markets evolve, and structural shifts (new regulation, changed market structure, macro regime changes) can weaken or reverse historical seasonality.
02
Backtests aren't trading records
The Strategy Backtest shows what a fixed calendar rule would have returned historically, with no transaction costs, slippage, taxes, or position sizing accounted for. Real execution would differ.
03
Small sample sizes
15 years means 15 observations per calendar month. That's enough to identify a tendency, but it's not a large statistical sample — a single unusual year can meaningfully shift an average.
04
Modelled data is a sector estimate
When you see MODELLED PATTERN DATA, that asset's numbers come from a broader sector/asset-class pattern, not its own trading history. Treat it as directional context, not a precise figure for that specific ticker.
05
Correlation isn't causation
The Correlations tool measures how similarly two assets' seasonal patterns move — it doesn't imply one causes the other, and historical co-movement can change.

TimingAX is one input among many. We built it to make a real, measurable effect visible — not to replace fundamental analysis, risk management, or your own judgement. Questions about the methodology? We read every message.

See it on real numbers.

Pick any of 460+ assets and watch the VERIFIED badge appear.