Quantustik's buying-conditions score for the S&P 500 reads 17/100 — Unfavorable conditions (Caution) as of 2026-07-20. Higher means a better time to buy; lower means worse. The reading is driven by breadth, contrarian fg, cluster buys. Weaker than a typical day of the last six months. The live action plan's current de-risking trigger: “Reduce 50% at next open if score drops below 35 (Caution)”. This is a market-conditions classifier for position-sizing context, not a buy signal.
Froth is measured separately, from froth evidence only (volatility, credit spreads, crowd sentiment, breadth) — never from the score above. It is reported as TWO readings, because froth means both at once and a single combined number cannot say both: it reads the same for a calm market the crowd ignores and for a market in outright panic. Currently how cheaply risk is priced reads 68/100 and how much the crowd is piling in reads 0/100. Calm and cheaply priced — but the crowd does not love it. Risk is priced cheaply (calm volatility, tight credit spreads), yet the crowd is not greedy and breadth is not stretched. That is a real, ordinary state — not a bubble, and not a panic. It says nothing about what happens next: markets that looked like this have gone on to rise about as often as usual. Poor buying conditions do not imply a frothy market: a market can be weak without being frothy.
A market-conditions classifier for position-sizing context, not a buy signal; educational, not advice.