Research campaign · Iteration 1 · unassessed

McClellan Liquidity Indices | RecessionAlert — exploratory proxy campaign

Can disclosed VMCOS/STL/MTL construction and STL zero-cross timing be turned into labeled public-proxy market-timing overlays when native SP-500 ADV/DECL volume is absent?

Expressions
18
Logged trials
Not recorded
Independent events
Not assessed
Evidence
unassessed

What the research found

Mechanism and falsifiers

Not recorded in this iteration.

Not recorded in this iteration.

Confidence and limitations

  • No native ADV/DECL volume series or asset SHA256 workbook on row.

  • Proxy thrust is not RecessionAlert volume breadth.

  • EMA seeding inferred; revision policy unknown.

  • Publication lag unknown; lag>=1 is campaign policy.

  • Macro stress families are speculative_extension.

Not recorded in this iteration.

Compare expressions

Download evidence

Exploratory results. Check each period, proxy and cost assumption before comparing. — means not recorded.

Expression / familyCAGRSharpeMax drawdownTest periodAssessment
stl_t0_lag1stl-zero-cross-proxy 4.1%0.39-35.0% Not recorded
exploratory
stl_t0_lag2stl-zero-cross-proxy 4.2%0.40-40.7% Not recorded
exploratory
stl_tm05_lag1stl-zero-cross-proxy 4.7%0.42-51.3% Not recorded
exploratory
stl_fast10_lag1stl-zero-cross-proxy 4.9%0.45-36.3% Not recorded
exploratory
stl_t0_lag0_controlstl-zero-cross-proxy 24.6%1.90-15.0% Not recorded
exploratory
mtl_t0_lag1mtl-vmcsi-regime-proxy 3.6%0.36-42.8% Not recorded
exploratory
mtl_t0_lag2mtl-vmcsi-regime-proxy 3.8%0.38-38.4% Not recorded
exploratory
vmcsi_slope_lag1mtl-vmcsi-regime-proxy 5.1%0.48-34.1% Not recorded
exploratory
ladder3_lag1liquidity-ladder-vote 5.7%0.58-27.6% Not recorded
exploratory
ladder4_lag1liquidity-ladder-vote 5.6%0.53-36.7% Not recorded
exploratory
ladder3_lag2liquidity-ladder-vote 3.7%0.39-38.3% Not recorded
exploratory
vix_lb63_lag1macro-liquidity-stress-extension 7.4%0.67-34.2% Not recorded
exploratory
baa_lb63_lag1macro-liquidity-stress-extension 6.7%0.62-38.6% Not recorded
exploratory
walcl_lb63_lag1macro-liquidity-stress-extension 8.8%0.66-42.0% Not recorded
exploratory
be_lb12_t0_lag1best-effort-neighbor-grid 9.4%0.77-27.6% Not recorded
exploratory
be_lb21_t0_lag1best-effort-neighbor-grid 13.2%1.02-29.0% Not recorded
exploratory
be_lb12_tm05_lag1best-effort-neighbor-grid 10.0%0.77-30.9% Not recorded
exploratory
be_lb12_t0_lag0_controlbest-effort-neighbor-grid 20.1%1.53-13.6% Not recorded
exploratory

Open an expression to inspect its rules and request confirmation. The request must be submitted by a trusted repository collaborator.

stl_t0_lag1
id

stl_t0_lag1

family

stl-zero-cross-proxy

claim kind

inferred

claim role

causal_primary

lag bars

1

lookback

19

threshold

0.0

exploratory

True

stl_t0_lag2
id

stl_t0_lag2

family

stl-zero-cross-proxy

claim kind

inferred

claim role

causal_primary

lag bars

2

lookback

19

threshold

0.0

exploratory

True

stl_tm05_lag1
id

stl_tm05_lag1

family

stl-zero-cross-proxy

claim kind

inferred

claim role

causal_primary

lag bars

1

lookback

19

threshold

-5e-05

exploratory

True

stl_fast10_lag1
id

stl_fast10_lag1

family

stl-zero-cross-proxy

claim kind

inferred

claim role

causal_primary

lag bars

1

lookback

10

threshold

0.0

exploratory

True

stl_t0_lag0_control
id

stl_t0_lag0_control

family

stl-zero-cross-proxy

claim kind

inferred

claim role

control_only

lag bars

0

lookback

19

threshold

0.0

exploratory

True

mtl_t0_lag1
id

mtl_t0_lag1

family

mtl-vmcsi-regime-proxy

claim kind

inferred

claim role

causal_primary

lag bars

1

lookback

19

threshold

0.0

exploratory

True

mtl_t0_lag2
id

mtl_t0_lag2

family

mtl-vmcsi-regime-proxy

claim kind

inferred

claim role

causal_primary

lag bars

2

lookback

19

threshold

0.0

exploratory

True

vmcsi_slope_lag1
id

vmcsi_slope_lag1

family

mtl-vmcsi-regime-proxy

claim kind

inferred

claim role

causal_primary

lag bars

1

lookback

19

threshold

0.0

exploratory

True

ladder3_lag1
id

ladder3_lag1

family

liquidity-ladder-vote

claim kind

inferred

claim role

causal_primary

lag bars

1

lookback

19

threshold

0.0

exploratory

True

ladder4_lag1
id

ladder4_lag1

family

liquidity-ladder-vote

claim kind

inferred

claim role

causal_primary

lag bars

1

lookback

19

threshold

0.0

exploratory

True

ladder3_lag2
id

ladder3_lag2

family

liquidity-ladder-vote

claim kind

inferred

claim role

causal_primary

lag bars

2

lookback

19

threshold

0.0

exploratory

True

vix_lb63_lag1
id

vix_lb63_lag1

family

macro-liquidity-stress-extension

claim kind

speculative_extension

claim role

causal_primary

lag bars

1

lookback

63

threshold

0.0

exploratory

True

baa_lb63_lag1
id

baa_lb63_lag1

family

macro-liquidity-stress-extension

claim kind

speculative_extension

claim role

causal_primary

lag bars

1

lookback

63

threshold

0.0

exploratory

True

walcl_lb63_lag1
id

walcl_lb63_lag1

family

macro-liquidity-stress-extension

claim kind

speculative_extension

claim role

causal_primary

lag bars

1

lookback

63

threshold

0.0

exploratory

True

be_lb12_t0_lag1
id

be_lb12_t0_lag1

family

best-effort-neighbor-grid

claim kind

inferred

claim role

causal_primary

lag bars

1

lookback

12

threshold

0.0

exploratory

True

be_lb21_t0_lag1
id

be_lb21_t0_lag1

family

best-effort-neighbor-grid

claim kind

inferred

claim role

causal_primary

lag bars

1

lookback

21

threshold

0.0

exploratory

True

be_lb12_tm05_lag1
id

be_lb12_tm05_lag1

family

best-effort-neighbor-grid

claim kind

inferred

claim role

causal_primary

lag bars

1

lookback

12

threshold

-0.5

exploratory

True

be_lb12_t0_lag0_control
id

be_lb12_t0_lag0_control

family

best-effort-neighbor-grid

claim kind

inferred

claim role

control_only

lag bars

0

lookback

12

threshold

0.0

exploratory

True

Interactive lab

Interactive history unavailable

Loading available evidence…

Research record

Source claims, inferred rules, experiments and the evidence behind the assessment.

Source
url
https://recessionalert.com/mcclellan-liquidity-indices/
sha256

sha256:d949a5a1b9ebf9653fa32e1179078fa84eb3ad9e1caf3b4fba2ad512da5f4ce4

fetched at

2026-08-22T23:46:51Z

published at

2019-10-28

title

McClellan Liquidity Indices | RecessionAlert

What the source claims
  • Net ADV−DECL volume on SP-500 feeds 19/39 McClellan EMAs to form VMCOS; VMCSI accumulates VMCOS.

  • STL = EMA(10) VMCOS − EMA(21) VMCOS; buy SP-500 when STL rises above zero and sell when it falls below zero.

  • EMA(21) VMCOS preferred as medium-term liquidity; below zero warns of corrections.

  • Escalating alert ladder from STL through long-term VMCSI below zero.

  • Daily chart claimed for 7+ years and STL chart for last 5 years as of 2019-10, but no observation series or workbook on this inventory row.

  • Proxy net advancing volume from SPY return thrust scaled by IWM/QQQ participation.

  • Standard ewm(span, adjust=False) for 19/39/10/21 windows; causal lag>=1.

  • ^VIX/BAA10Y/WALCL stress overlays as ALIX-adjacent length neighbors without merging ALIX identity.

  • Native ADV/DECL volume parity, chart-image SHA256 parity, EMA seed/revision policy, and publication clock.

Rules actually disclosed
  • Net ADV−DECL volume on SP-500 feeds 19/39 McClellan EMAs to form VMCOS; VMCSI accumulates VMCOS.

  • STL = EMA(10) VMCOS − EMA(21) VMCOS; buy SP-500 when STL rises above zero and sell when it falls below zero.

  • EMA(21) VMCOS preferred as medium-term liquidity; below zero warns of corrections.

  • Escalating alert ladder from STL through long-term VMCSI below zero.

  • Daily chart claimed for 7+ years and STL chart for last 5 years as of 2019-10, but no observation series or workbook on this inventory row.

What had to be inferred
  • Proxy net advancing volume from SPY return thrust scaled by IWM/QQQ participation.

  • Standard ewm(span, adjust=False) for 19/39/10/21 windows; causal lag>=1.

  • ^VIX/BAA10Y/WALCL stress overlays as ALIX-adjacent length neighbors without merging ALIX identity.

Research questions
  • Can disclosed VMCOS/STL/MTL construction and STL zero-cross timing be turned into labeled public-proxy market-timing overlays when native SP-500 ADV/DECL volume is absent?

Data
page sha256

sha256:d949a5a1b9ebf9653fa32e1179078fa84eb3ad9e1caf3b4fba2ad512da5f4ce4

fetched at

2026-08-22T23:46:51Z

database

data/market.sqlite read-only

recessionalert db

data/recessionalert.sqlite read-only

linked assets

0

Baseline implementation
id

stl_t0_lag1

family

stl-zero-cross-proxy

claim kind

inferred

claim role

causal_primary

lag bars

1

lookback

19

threshold

0.0

metrics
n days

8402

cagr

0.04132185167712543

vol

0.12136039936410632

sharpe

0.39436434906503764

max drawdown

-0.3504103411430768

risk off events

343

risk on share

0.4665563696525644

exploratory

True

What to try interactively
  • name

    lag_bars

    values
    • 0

    • 1

    • 2

    note

    lag0 control_only

  • name

    lookback

    values
    • 10

    • 12

    • 19

    • 21

    • 39

    • 63

  • name

    threshold

    values
    • 0.0

    • -0.5

  • name

    vote_threshold

    values
    • 3

    • 4

Suggested next research
  • Would a checked-in ADV/DECL volume workbook change the NO-GO native disposition?

  • Do constituent-level rebuilds materially change STL zero-cross overlays vs price-thrust proxies?

  • Should ALIX and McClellan campaigns share a common VMCOS primitive without merging inventory identities?

Trial ledger
  • iteration

    1

    note

    Initial offline best-effort campaign for issue 1472

What the signal looks like

STL proxy flips SPY/IEF weights when EMA10(VMCOS)-EMA21(VMCOS) crosses zero on inferred net volume thrust.

Historical events

Diagnostics cover GFC, 2018Q4, COVID, and 2019 source-year slices; see diagnostics.json.

State-space exploration

18 labeled variants across five families; see state-space.json.

Parameter sensitivity

Lags 0/1/2, McClellan-inspired 10/19/21/39 windows, thresholds 0/-0.5, ladder votes 3/4.

What worked

Causal STL and ladder proxies produce continuous evaluable overlays without inventing undisclosed native thresholds beyond the disclosed zero-cross.

What did not work

Native parity remains impossible; some speculative stress variants have high turnover and weaker drawdown control.

Why the failures appear to happen

Missing ADV/DECL volume removes the disclosed input; price-thrust is a labeled substitute with different economic content.

Regime behavior

See diagnostics regime_results for GFC/2018Q4/COVID/2019.

Timing and cost sensitivity

lag0 control_only vs lag1 primary; costs/slippage omitted.

Combinations

Ladder vote vs single STL compared in diagnostics combination_results.

Agent assessment

Fail-closed NO-GO for native McClellan Liquidity Indices; exploratory proxies are publishable under Other/Research only.

Next questions

Review status

published. Research publication does not imply official admission.

Return to pending research