Brief Overview

Through a single platform, ORTEX delivers multiple analysis tools for a variety of investment vehicles. If information is what you seek, ORTEX may have an answer.

Services Offered

ORTEX specializes in data analytics on the following investment vehicles:

• Cryptocurrencies
• ETFs
• Equity options
• Indexes
• Traditional currencies
• IPOs
• Commodities
• And stocks, of course

It’s probably worth pointing out what ORTEX doesn’t offer: trading. The company delivers a great deal of information, but it’s not possible to place any trades from its platform.

ORTEX’s software can be used to search in specific countries, regions, and stock indexes. It’s also possible to simply enter a ticker symbol or company name and do research on that individual asset.

Stocks have the most information. A single profile has lots of tabs with specific details. Examples of tabs include:

• Insider trading
• EPS momentum
• Holders
• Shorts
• Peers
• Analysts
• Events
• Corporate actions
• And more

Software Overview

The heart of ORTEX is the company’s website. This is where research and analysis is done. There is no desktop platform or mobile app.

The main menu is located on the far left-hand side (in vertical format). This menu can be repeated as a group of tiles in the center of the screen. Just click on the very top selection (Main Menu).

At the very top of the screen, there are more items of value. In the right-hand corner, there is a settings menu. Inside the settings menu, it’s possible to change colors of virtually everything on the site. There are two color schemes for the platform: dark and light.

A search bar exists at the top of the site for specific companies and assets. Right next to it, it’s possible to specify a region, country, or index.

During my test drive of the site, I found it easy to use without any bugs.

Short Interest

ORTEX does have a noticeable emphasis on shorting. Because of that, the Shorts tab in the main menu may be a good place to begin. After clicking on this tab, the website presented me with a long list of stocks with high short scores.

A high short score means an asset is highly shorted. The score is a blended calculation of several short metrics. By default, results are sorted by the short score, although it’s possible to sort by other issues. Examples include:

• Days to cover
• Shares on loan
• Utilization rate
• Cost to borrow
• % freefloat on loan

It’s possible to search for securities by drilling down into a particular region, like Nordic. It’s also possible to scan on a specific index, like the FTSE 100.

Clicking on a security in the search results generates a profile with lots of short interest details. A graph shows days to cover along with price action. Other metrics can be added to a chart here, including on loan and cost to borrow.

ORTEX sources short data from prime brokers, agent lenders, and brokerage firms that submit their inventory.

Stock Trading Signals

If you’re looking for trade ideas, the Stock Trading Signals tab has some. ORTEX back tests its data and delivers signals on over 50,000 stocks per day. Maximum and minimum returns are shown with recommended hold periods.

ORTEX uses five families of trading signals in its analysis. They are:

• Short squeeze
• EPS
• RSI
• MACD
• Company events

ORTEX’s search results show how many times a signal has been generated in the past. Other details include previous success rate and average return.

Star ratings are shown as well. These are generated using time frame and return. Trades with the largest return over the shortest time frame have the highest grades.

Initial Public Offerings

The IPO tab shows not only upcoming offerings, but also other offerings. These typically include secondary offerings. On the day I did my research, I found offerings for HempFusion Wellness and KKR Real Estate Finance Trust.

ORTEX divides information on IPOs into categories. These include:

• Upcoming offerings and deals
• Priced and recent IPOs and deals
• Recently filed

The upcoming category includes the current market day’s launches. It’s possible to sort through the lists by entering a ticker symbol and company name. This is a good thing because there can be a lot of results. ORTEX’s software also displays the offering price and size.

If you’re really ambitious, ORTEX offers lists of IPOs on foreign exchanges.

Analysts

If you like to rely on the experts, the Analysts tab is a good place to visit. During my investigation, I found lists of upgrades and downgrades on lots of companies.

Clicking on an entry in one of the lists generates more details on analysts’ trade suggestions. These include number of buy, hold, and sell recommendations. There is also a price target.

A graph on this page shows price action and how well it tracks EPS and analysts’ target price.

Stock Stamps

Stock stamps are groups of tiles, hence the term stamps, composed from a variety of metrics. These include things like EPS, trading signals, and insider trading activity.

Each stock has one row of tiles. Clicking anywhere in the row will produce the stock’s profile.

What I didn’t like about these lists of tiles is that sorting is not possible with some categories. For example, sorting doesn’t work well with trading signals and insider trading. Even EPS didn’t sort for me. But results can be sorted by market cap and sector.

Stock Scores

If you want some hard numbers on equities, head over to Stock Scores. ORTEX looks at quality, value, and momentum to estimate excess market returns.

Each stock is graded against its peers. A score of 100 is the best, while zero is the lowest possible grade.

ORTEX uses machine learning to grade stocks. The company adjusts its grading algorithms over time to try to make them more accurate.

Clicking on an entry produces a more detailed page with specifics on sub-categories. For example, Qualcomm had a score of 47 for EBIT margin increase and an 80 for EPS/price divergence.

Cryptocurrencies, Forex, and Commodities

Besides the information on securities, the ORTEX platform also delivers details on other asset classes. These tend to be primarily trading signals. There just isn’t the same amount of information, especially compared to stocks.

Nevertheless, I did find the following data points on cryptos:

• News articles
• Trading signals
• Charts with triggers and star ratings

The commodities and forex tabs display correlations between those assets and prices of specific stocks.

Pricing

For its massive treasure trove of data, ORTEX does charge a reasonable monthly fee. It is $79 a month. If you sign up for an annual subscription, the cost is $588. This translates into $49 a month, which is a $30 savings.

However, they do offer a freemium subscription, where they offer some of the data for free, but have two paid subscription plans: a basic subscription with access to more than the free level, and an advanced subscription with complete access to all of thier data.

Bottom Line

ORTEX does a good job of delivering tons of information in easily-digestible chunks.

Investors who want to make the most informed trading decisions will find lots of resources here. But the lack of trading capability through ORTEX is a major drawback, but the price point is resasonable for active traders.