Control Group

A paper-trading app and the earnings research behind it, in which twelve promising results died to their own controls and none survived.

What the controls did
ClaimRawAfter its control
Intraday lead–lag71% accurate65% for random signals
Opening-range breakoutprofitable−31% vs QQQ +263%
Post-earnings driftt = 3.58t = 1.20 beta-adjusted
Pre-event newsρ = 0.432ρ = 0.077 within symbol
Straddle price gate+30.6% modelledt = 0.16 on real prices
Per-symbol cheapness+62%p = 0.080 vs best-of-8
What survives

Gap direction is unpredictable — six pre-event signals, 238 filing-anchored events, 45–53% against a 50% null. And range compression forecasts move size (ρ −0.261), though it predicts the median rather than the tail an option prices. Both were stated as nulls from the beginning.

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