Thesis ledger
Dated forecasts and market interpretations with assessment criteria and subsequent outcomes. This records research, not portfolio performance.
Publication range: 2 Jul 2026 – 15 Oct 2026. Source: Hawk Thorne research record. Thesis descriptions retain the content recorded in the ledger.
Forecasts
23Claims about future events, assessed against a stated condition and time horizon.
- Held
- 8
- Broke
- 8
- Unresolved
- 0
- Awaiting assessment
- 7
Interpretations
117Assessments of current conditions. New evidence can sustain, revise or retire an interpretation. These do not contribute to forecast accuracy.
- Sustained
- 7
- Revised
- 19
- Retired
- 10
- Awaiting assessment
- 52
- Historical assessments
- 29
Assessment rules and forecast calibration
Since 27 July 2026, forecasts and interpretations follow separate assessment rules. Earlier interpretations graded against price thresholds remain in the history and are excluded from calibration.
Declared probabilities compared with assessed outcomes. Brier is the mean squared error; a lower score indicates less error within this sample. A small sample does not establish future forecasting accuracy.
Forecast calibration
scored forecasts: 17 · Brier: 0.252
The sample includes only resolved forecasts with a recorded probability. Interpretations and unresolved entries are excluded.
The Nasdaq Mini futures net short's small week-over-week increase to 22 September masked underlying short covering of 11,267 contracts of gross short, leaving a position at the 71st percentile of its three-year range exposed to either a resumed squeeze or a reversal driven by fresh Apple and chip-supply demand concerns.
Read analysis#What would prove it wrong
If the Nasdaq Mini futures gross shorts resume building (net short rising) in the COT report covering the week to 6 October, the short-covering squeeze mechanism breaks in favor of the demand-concern narrative taking hold among positioned speculators.
The Nasdaq Mini futures net short reversed its two-week covering trend and rebuilt by 23,556 contracts of gross short in the week to 22 September even as the Nasdaq Composite continued climbing, alongside comparable short-building in the E-mini S&P 500 and an already record-stretched Russell E-mini short, leaving index futures positioned against a rally that has not yet broken.
Read analysis#What would prove it wrong
The Nasdaq Composite closes above 27,862 within 10 trading days without a resumption of Nasdaq Mini futures short covering, or the net short extends further while the Composite remains below 27,862.
The Nasdaq Mini futures net short covered for a second straight report (25,064 contracts in the week to 15 September) as the Nasdaq Composite rallied to a fresh 20-day high, exhibiting the ordinary short-squeeze mechanism while the position remains near its three-year stretch extreme.
Read analysis#What would prove it wrong
If the Nasdaq Mini net short remains at or above the 85th percentile of its three-year range in the next COT report while the Nasdaq Composite closes above 28,200, the forced-seller squeeze thesis fires; if the short keeps covering toward below the 80th percentile, the read holds.
Russell 2000 futures' record-crowded speculative net short shrank by 2,940 contracts in the week to 25 August as the Russell 2000 fell 1.53% over five sessions, a mismatch that leaves the position looking pressured.
What would prove it wrong
If the next COT report shows the Russell E-Mini net short resuming its extension while the Russell 2000 stays below its 20-day high of 3068.42, this week's covering reads as a pause inside a still-crowded short rather than a genuine unwind.
Read analysis#How it settled
^RUT closed below 3068.42 on 2026-09-04 (close 2975.65)
The Nasdaq Mini futures short-covering in the week to 18 August, against a falling Composite, breaks the forced-seller squeeze read this desk tracked since 1 August; the crowded-short question has now shifted to the still-extending S&P 500 and Russell 2000 futures books.
What would prove it wrong
If the COT report covering the week to 25 August shows the Nasdaq Mini futures net short resuming its extension while the Nasdaq Composite trades below 26,803 (its current 20-day high), the covering seen in the 18 August report reads as a pause rather than a genuine unwind.
Read analysis#How it settled
^IXIC closed below 26803 on 2026-08-25 (close 26151.3)
Nasdaq Mini futures extended their net short to a three-year-percentile extreme in the week to 11 August, with the 10 August test for a forced-seller squeeze, the Composite above 27,800 alongside a further-extending short, only half-fired as of 19 August 2026.
What would prove it wrong
If the Nasdaq Composite closes above 27,800 while a subsequent COT report shows Nasdaq Mini futures still extending their net short, the position becomes a forced-seller squeeze rather than a stretched hedge; if instead Nasdaq Mini futures begin covering while the Composite stays below that level, the exposure-against-the-tape read fails outright.
Read analysis#How it settled
no ^IXIC close above 27800 through 2026-09-10
Nasdaq, S&P and Russell futures are all extending net shorts together even as the Nasdaq Composite makes gains, leaving the Nasdaq Mini short at a three-year stretch that increasingly looks like exposure against the tape.
What would prove it wrong
If the Nasdaq Composite rises above 27800 while the next COT report shows Nasdaq Mini futures extending their net short further, the position shifts from stretched hedge into forced-seller squeeze.
Read analysis#How it settled
no ^IXIC close above 27800 through 2026-08-25
S&P 500 futures and Nasdaq Mini futures are unwinding stretched shorts into new highs while Russell 2000 futures keep adding to an already 90th-percentile-stretched short.
What would prove it wrong
If the next COT report shows Russell 2000 e-mini futures also beginning to cover their net short alongside continued S&P and Nasdaq covering, the cross-cap divergence read fails and this becomes a single, uniform short-covering rally.
Read analysis#How it settled
The 1 August thesis required continued short-covering in S&P and Nasdaq futures alongside a stretched Russell short; the 4 August COT report instead shows all three books, including Nasdaq and S&P, extending net shorts, the exact scenario the 1 August falsifier said would end the cross-cap divergence read.
This week's earnings reactions in Netflix, Intuitive Surgical, Regions Financial and SpaceX reflect four distinct mechanisms rather than a broadening earnings-quality problem, and the S&P e-mini's extending speculative short (unlike the covering seen in Nasdaq and Russell futures) marks a genuine split in positioning rather than confirmation of contagion.
What would prove it wrong
If the S&P 500 breaks below its 20-day low of 7354.02 or the Nasdaq Composite breaks below its 20-day low of 25297.62 on renewed selling tied to this week's earnings names, the mechanism-split read fails and a broader earnings-quality deterioration becomes the better story.
Read analysis#How it settled
^GSPC traded below 7354.02 on 2026-07-29 (session low 7313.92)
Broad short-covering in Nasdaq Mini and Russell 2000 futures, alongside a strong NY Fed manufacturing beat, signals a soft-landing rotation into cyclicals and small caps that coexists uneasily with unresolved single-name tech risk from IBM's earnings collapse and Apple's KeyBanc downgrade.
What would prove it wrong
If Nasdaq Mini and Russell 2000 futures resume net-short building in the next COT report despite continued strong data surprises, or the S&P 500 breaks below its 20-day low of 7354.02 on renewed tech-earnings contagion, the short-covering-driven rotation thesis fails.
Read analysis#How it settled
^GSPC traded below 7354.02 on 2026-07-29 (session low 7313.92)
IBM's escalation from a 17% to a 25%+ single-day decline confirms the earnings miss the desk flagged earlier on 14 July 2026, but the distinct mechanisms behind IBM's, Ericsson's and Dometic's misses, plus the still-muted 0.35% S&P 500 futures reaction, keep the idiosyncratic read intact over the broadening-deterioration alternative.
What would prove it wrong
If Ericsson, Dometic or another same-week miss triggers follow-through selling that drags the Russell 2000 below its 20-day low of 2917.98 or the Nasdaq Composite below its 20-day low of 25297.62, the idiosyncratic read fails and a broadening earnings-quality problem becomes the more defensible story.
Read analysis#How it settled
^IXIC traded below 25297.6 on 2026-07-17 (session low 25250.6)
IBM, Ericsson and FB Financial's same-day earnings misses reflect three separate mechanisms (client budget shifts, component cost inflation, a narrow margin miss) rather than a broadening single-name earnings deterioration, and the S&P 500 futures' 0.07% intraday move and still-intact 20-day ranges on the S&P 500 and Nasdaq Composite support treating the cluster as coincidental in timing rather than causally linked.
What would prove it wrong
If the S&P 500 or Nasdaq Composite break below their 20-day lows (7354.02 and 25297.62 respectively) alongside further earnings-driven single-day drops of 10% or more in unrelated names following the 14 July CPI print, the broadening-deterioration read is confirmed instead.
Read analysis#How it settled
^GSPC traded below 7354.02 on 2026-07-29 (session low 7313.92)