Alternative Data for Financial Advisors

Thinknum on April 14, 2022

Fresh Insights for Alpha-Generating Investment Ideas

Get A God’s Eye View of Financial Markets with Alternative Data

As economic activity comes online, new data trails are left behind. The most innovative financial advisors leverage this data for alpha-generating investment ideas. Read on to find out how Thinknum’s alternative web data can help you track business activity like never before.

Listen in on the Reddit Retail Army

Meme Stock Kings

Track the most popular companies on r/WallStreetBets in real time. You can also read all Reddit posts that mention a specific company for more granular insights, or to run sentiment analysis

The number of posts mentioning AMC and GME on r/WallStreetBets surged weeks before their stock prices took off.

Track User Growth at NFT Marketplaces

NFT Industry: Track User Growth

Thinknum’s Traction dataset is comprised of idiosyncratic metrics harnessed from corporate websites. It tracks user activity at OpenSea, one of the world’s largest NFT marketplaces, by indexing the number of registered and concurrent users on its website - giving financial advisors a real-time view of who’s winning in the NFT industry.

Registered and concurrent users at Opensea, one of the largest marketplaces for NFT products, soared by 601.3% over the past 6 months.

Compare Headcount in the Private Spaceflight Industry

War for Talent in the Billionaire Space Race

To proxy for employee headcount, use the aggregated number of LinkedIn profiles that list a company as their employer. Compare competitors’ headcount, or track corporate expansion and layoffs, all in real time.

The three giants leading today’s commercial space race are competing to recruit the best talent. Headcount at Virgin Galactic has grown by 73.2% over the past year, while headcount at SpaceX and Blue Origin has grown by 29.3% and 26.3%, respectively, over the same time period.

Compare User Growth in Crypto Transaction Apps

Searching for the Next Cryptocurrency Whale

Mobile apps for cryptocurrency payments are fighting tooth and nail to attract new users. Compare the number of Apple App Store ratings over time for Cash App, Coinbase, Binance, and more to track who emerges as users’ favorite.

Cash App, developed by Square, is the leading crypto payment app on the Apple App Store - but Binance is quickly catching up, with the number of user reviews up 841% over the last 6 months.

Analyze Hiring in the Hospitality Industry

Summer of Love: Hotelier Hiring Spree

Savvy financial advisors look to hiring data as a valuable leading indicator of future corporate performance. View the number of open job listings for major players in the hospitality industry to track their postpandemic recovery. Filter to gain in-depth competitive insights into specific market, location, and job categories.

Hoteliers expect travel to spike during the post-pandemic summer, and have been hiring accordingly. Job listings at Hilton are up by 78.7% this year, while those at Hyatt are up by only 4.4% over the same time period.

Compare Pricing Trends for Used Cars

Chip Shortage Drives Price Inflation for Used Luxury Cars

Our car inventory dataset tracks daily prices and inventories across all major online dealerships through each vehicle’s unique VIN number. Users can filter by brand, year, car model, location, and other attributes to predict car sales in real time.

Prices for a used Mercedes-Benz or Lexus on Carvana are 24% higher than they were six months ago. Choose Maserati instead: their prices have only increased by 6.8% over the same time period.

Visualize Store Locations in the F&B Industry

Who’s Winning the Food Delivery Wars?

Our Store Locations dataset allows users to compare bricks-and-mortar locations across companies in a user-friendly map - a powerful tool for lead generation, competitive intelligence, and more. As the food delivery wars heat up across New York City, for example, map the restaurants that partner with each player to understand where competitors are fighting for market dominance.

Restaurant locations for top competitors in New York City’s food delivery industry. DoorDash and Grubhub partner with 19.8K and 14.9K restaurants in the city, respectively.

Track User Reviews for Home Fitness Products

Peloton: Chronicle of a Recall Foretold

User reviews are an increasingly important proxy for growth. Our data tracks quantitative and qualitative user reviews so you can analyze product quality, brand positioning, and a company’s ability to deliver goods and services to their customers.

User reviews for Peloton bikes started dipping months before the company - in cooperation with the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission - announced a recall of 54,000 faulty pedals. The October 2020 recall marked the beginning of Peloton’s stock price stagnation.

Compare Prices Across Housing Markets

House Prices: Seeking Greener Pastures

As the post-pandemic reopening continues to impact real estate valuations, compare residential property prices across the United States in a user-friendly map. Filter by specific requirements, such as location, property size, or number of bedrooms and bathrooms, for insights on local and regional housing markets.

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