Inside the Fusion Score

1. Overview

The platform organises equity research around a single, comparable score per security — the Fusion Score (0–100). Two independent composites are computed for every name in coverage:

• A Sentiment Composite built from five sub-indicators that capture what crowd behaviour, news flow, the options market, sell-side analysts and corporate insiders are saying.
• A Standard Composite built from a multi-factor model spanning technical, momentum, valuation and quality signals.

The two composites are blended into the Fusion Score, which in turn feeds five rules-based portfolios. Each strategy is declined for three universes (S&P 500, STOXX Europe 600, Russell 3000) and rebalanced on a fixed weekly schedule.

2. Sentiment Composite

The Sentiment Composite is the proprietary overlay that separates Barrakuda Quant from a purely fundamental model. It aggregates five direction-scored sub-indicators, each de-noised and normalised before contributing to the composite:

Each sub-indicator is z-scored against its peer set so that a "70 in Sentiment" means roughly the same thing across sectors and universes.

3. Standard Composite

The Standard Composite is the multi-factor read of the same security. It is intentionally close to what a quantitative house running a classic equity model would compute, so that the platform stays interpretable. The four factor groups are blended into a single 0–100 score per security.

4. From composites to Fusion Score

The two composites are blended into the Fusion Score: a single, comparable read per security on the 0–100 scale. The point of the blend is to capture conviction that the two perspectives agree on, while flagging cases where they disagree (visible in the Smart Money Map and the Daily Suitability view in the platform).

A higher Fusion Score reflects broader alignment between sentiment and fundamentals; it does not predict any specific outcome. See the Disclosures.

5. Rules-based strategies

The Fusion Score and its components feed five rules-based portfolios. Selection, weighting and turnover are deterministic given the score inputs and the strategy rule book; there is no discretionary override at the security level.

• Sentiment Alpha

  Selects names where the sentiment overlay shows aligned conviction across crowd, news and options signals. Higher turnover, sentiment-tilted.
• Quality Momentum

  Targets compounders that combine durable momentum with clean balance sheets. Core tilt.
• Fusion Select

  A concentrated selection of the highest Fusion Scores in the universe. The flagship read of the platform.
• Contrarian Value

  Cheap names the crowd has given up on, where the sentiment signal is turning. Defensive tilt.
• Contrarian Income Hybrid

  Contrarian entry points filtered for an income tilt, for a steadier risk-return profile.

6. Universes

Every strategy is declined for three equity universes, giving fifteen rules-based portfolios in total:

• S&P 500 — US large caps.
• STOXX Europe 600 — broad European large- and mid-cap coverage.
• Russell 3000 — the broader US market, including mid- and small-cap names.

The universe boundaries are reviewed periodically to track the underlying index changes; intra-period drift between rebalances is intentional and reflects the strategy rule book.

7. Rebalance cadence

All strategies rebalance on a fixed weekly schedule. Holdings, additions, removals and reweights are logged in the platform's Rebalance Log and time-stamped, so any user can reconstruct the path of any portfolio over time. This is a design choice: a weekly cadence is fast enough to react to material shifts in sentiment and fundamentals, while slow enough to avoid trading on noise.

8. Regime & suitability

A separate Kalman-filtered regime model classifies the current state of each universe into entry-and-exit zones (Accumulate, Recovery, Overbought, Overheating, Distribute, Falling Knife). A daily Suitability score (0–5) flags which strategies fit the prevailing regime. The Suitability is informational: it is not a strategy in itself and does not override any rule book.

9. Performance metrics

Each strategy is tracked against the index of its universe and scored on the metrics a professional allocator would expect, including:

• Alpha against the benchmark index;
• Sharpe and Sortino ratios for risk-adjusted return;
• Calmar ratio (return vs. maximum drawdown);
• Maximum drawdown, win rate, profit factor, and total return.

Figures shown anywhere on the public website are illustrative. Live figures are computed in the platform per strategy and universe and are visible to authenticated users.

10. Glossary