- Breadth85 Participation is contracting across multiple breadth proxies — the market may be shifting from broad advance to narrow leadership or distribution.
- Ratio-Quality83 Consumer Risk Breadth falling on XLY weakness — XLY dropping faster than XLP, a high-quality warning.
- Divergence78 QQQ has risen over 21 days while QNXT/QTOP has not confirmed (+15.5% gap) — The lower 70 Nasdaq-100 names are not confirming the top 30.
- Divergence78 SPY has risen over 63 days while IWM/SPY has not confirmed (+14.6% gap) — Large-cap strength is not confirmed by small-cap participation.
- Divergence75 QQQ has risen over 21 days while QQQE/QQQ has not confirmed (+10.8% gap) — Nasdaq-100 strength is not confirmed by the average Nasdaq stock.
- Ratio-Quality73 Small Growth Breadth falling on IWO weakness — IWO dropping faster than IWN, a high-quality warning.
- Divergence63 SPY has risen over 63 days while MDY/SPY has not confirmed (+14.1% gap) — Mid-caps are not confirming large-cap strength.
- Divergence62 SPY has risen over 63 days while XMAG/SPY has not confirmed (+9.8% gap) — The index is rising without the 493 stocks outside the Mag-7.
- Divergence60 SPY has risen over 63 days while RSP/SPY has not confirmed (+9.2% gap) — S&P 500 headline strength is not confirmed by the average (equal-weight) stock.
- Ratio-Quality56 Cyclical Breadth falling on XLI weakness — XLI dropping faster than XLU, a high-quality warning.
- Divergence51 SPY has risen over 63 days while SPXT/SPY has not confirmed (+8.6% gap) — Non-tech S&P 500 is not keeping pace with the headline.
Market X-Ray · Toolbox 6 · Cross-Toolbox Scoring
Market Structure Alert Stack
Four toolboxes — Beta-Instability, Breadth-of-Breadth, Ratio-Quality and the Divergence Scanner — each raise their own alerts. On their own they're noise. This layer asks the only question that matters: do they agree? It clusters every alert by what it implies for the market and scores each cluster by how many independent tools confirm it — turning dozens of isolated signals into one ranked stack and a single Master Risk Score.
Updated daily · data as of 2026-09-22
The stack — ranked, confirmed clusters
- Divergence89 SPY is up over 21d but the move is inefficient (choppy) — The S&P is higher but the move is inefficient — a choppy, low-quality grind rather than a clean trend.
- Divergence80 SPY is up over 21d but breadth momentum is rolling over — The S&P is rising while the Breadth-of-Breadth score is deteriorating — participation momentum is rolling over beneath the index.
- Divergence78 SMH is up over 21d but the move is inefficient (choppy) — Semis are higher but on a noisy, low-efficiency path — leadership without clean momentum.
- Divergence65 QQQ has risen over 63 days while SMH/XLK has not confirmed (+14.5% gap) — Semis — the cycle tell — are not confirming Nasdaq strength.
- Divergence62 XLK has risen over 21 days while AIQ/XLK has not confirmed (+9.2% gap) — The AI basket is not confirming broad-tech leadership.
- Divergence60 XLK has risen over 21 days while IGV/XLK has not confirmed (+11.3% gap) — Software is not confirming broad-tech strength.
- Divergence71 QQQ has risen over 21 days while QTOP/QNXT has not confirmed (+15.5% gap) — The top-30 Nasdaq names are increasingly carrying the index.
- Divergence69 QQQ has risen over 21 days while QQQ/QQQE has not confirmed (+10.8% gap) — Nasdaq gains are concentrating in the largest names.
- Divergence51 SPY has risen over 63 days while SPY/RSP has not confirmed (+9.2% gap) — The S&P advance is becoming more dependent on the cap-weighted mega-caps.
- Divergence82 SPY is rising over 21d while IWM/SPY upside participation is fading — The S&P is rising but small-caps’ upside (up-day) beta is fading — they are not capturing the advance.
- Beta67 XSD/SPY: healthy-leader — downside-beta expansion, upside participation deteriorating (sharp)
- Divergence65 SMH is rising over 21d while SMH/XLK upside participation is fading — Semis are rising but their upside beta to broad tech is fading — leadership quality is exhausting.
- Divergence48 SPY is rising over 21d while HYG/SPY upside participation is fading — Equities are rising but high-yield credit’s upside beta is fading — credit isn’t capturing the risk-on.
- Beta47 QTOP/QQQ: fragile — downside-beta expansion, negative beta asymmetry
- Beta37 ARKK/QQQ: neutral — early beta improvement, downside-beta expansion (sharp)
- Beta34 SPXT/SPY: neutral — upside-beta collapse, beta-adjusted underperformance, upside participation deteriorating (sharp), downside-beta expansion (sharp)
- Beta28 XSD/QQQ: fragile — downside-beta expansion, negative beta asymmetry, upside participation deteriorating (sharp), downside-beta expansion (sharp)
- Beta26 SMH/XLK: fragile — downside-beta expansion, negative beta asymmetry, beta-adjusted underperformance, upside participation deteriorating (sharp), downside-beta expansion (sharp)
- Beta24 SMH/QQQ: fragile — downside-beta expansion, negative beta asymmetry, beta-adjusted underperformance, upside participation deteriorating (sharp), downside-beta expansion (sharp)
- Beta21 XMAG/SPY: neutral — downside-beta expansion (sharp)
- Beta69 IWM/SPY: distribution — negative beta asymmetry, beta-adjusted underperformance, upside participation deteriorating (sharp), downside-beta expansion (sharp)
- Beta61 QQQE/QQQ: distribution — beta-adjusted underperformance
- Beta43 IGV/XLK: distribution — beta-adjusted underperformance
- Beta42 MDY/SPY: distribution — upside-beta collapse, beta-adjusted underperformance, upside participation deteriorating (sharp), downside-beta expansion (sharp)
- Beta41 QNXT/QQQ: distribution — upside-beta collapse, beta-adjusted underperformance
- Beta38 RSP/SPY: distribution — upside-beta collapse, negative beta asymmetry, beta-adjusted underperformance, upside participation deteriorating (sharp), downside-beta expansion (sharp)
- Beta19 HYG/SPY: distribution — upside-beta collapse, beta-adjusted underperformance, downside-beta expansion (sharp)
How to read it
Every toolbox's alerts are normalised into one schema and mapped to a market implication (narrowing, risk-off, leadership exhaustion, hidden fragility, broadening…). Alerts that imply the same thing form a cluster, scored by the spec blend: base severity (0.25), toolbox confirmation (0.20, how many of the four agree), independence (0.15, distinct evidence types — price vs beta vs breadth vs credit), regime relevance (0.15), persistence (0.10), worsening (0.10) and importance (0.05). A cluster confirmed by three independent tools is a high-conviction read; one tool alone is a watch item. The Master Risk Score tracks the top cluster, lifted when several distinct bearish clusters fire at once.
For information and discussion only — a reading of market internals, not investment advice. Thresholds are uncalibrated pending the planned backtest. Built on Beta-Instability, Breadth-of-Breadth, Ratio-Quality and the Divergence Scanner.
FAQ · from the current data · as of 2026-09-22
Quick answers
What does the Market Structure Alert Stack show?
It fuses alerts from four independent Market X-Ray toolboxes — Beta-Instability, Breadth-of-Breadth, Ratio-Quality and the Divergence Scanner — into clusters by market implication, then scores each cluster by how many of the four tools confirm it. The result is one Master Market-Structure Risk Score and a ranked, de-duplicated alert stack.
What is the Master Market-Structure Risk Score right now?
As of 2026-09-22, the Master Market-Structure Risk Score is 81, labeled "critical".
How many alert clusters are confirmed by multiple toolboxes?
As of 2026-09-22, 2 of 5 alert clusters are confirmed by two or more toolboxes, out of 38 raw alerts across all four tools.
How is a cluster’s score calculated?
Each cluster blends base severity (25%), toolbox confirmation (20%, how many of the four tools agree), independence of evidence (15%), regime relevance (15%), persistence (10%), worsening (10%) and importance (5%). A cluster confirmed by three independent tools reads as high-conviction; one tool alone is a watch item.