How Fresh Is a Stock Alert? A Three-Clock Checklist

An alert arriving now does not, by itself, tell you when its underlying information was current. It also does not tell you how much time passed before you reviewed it.

For self-directed U.S. equity research, separate three clocks: the information's time, the message's receipt time and your review time. This helps you identify what you know about timing—and what still needs checking—without treating a notification as an instruction to trade.

This is a manual research worksheet, not a description of fields guaranteed to appear in Foreshadow AI alerts. If a time or its meaning is unavailable, record unknown rather than estimating it.

1. The data clock: When was the information current?

Look for an explicit “as of” time on the source you are evaluating. Record the date, time zone and what that timestamp describes.

A quote timestamp, the end of a chart interval and the publication time of a company announcement describe different things. Do not silently substitute one for another. If a source describes a period rather than a single moment, record that period.

Useful note: “The source labels this information as of this time.”

Unhelpful shortcut: “The notification just arrived, so everything in it must be current.”

If the underlying timestamp is absent, the message timestamp cannot fill that gap.

2. The receipt clock: When did the message reach you?

Record receipt time if you can establish it. Read timestamp labels carefully: a displayed send time is not automatically a measured receipt time. If you only know when the message was sent, preserve that label instead of renaming it.

Receipt time alone does not establish the age of the underlying data or isolate delivery latency. You would need additional, clearly defined timestamps to distinguish data age, analysis time, message creation and delivery.

Likewise, a plan's daily, hourly or five-minute frequency is not a measured end-to-end latency statistic. Frequency and freshness answer different questions.

3. The review clock: When did you actually examine it?

Write down when you gave the information proper attention—not just when you noticed a notification.

At review time, check whether the information still addresses your research question. Has a later announcement appeared? Are you looking at current market information or an older screenshot? Does the relevant context remain unresolved?

These are independent research tasks, not claims that Foreshadow supplies every timestamp, source or update. If you cannot establish the context you need, “needs verification” is a useful next step.

A hypothetical example: three times, different meanings

The following is an invented teaching example, not a Foreshadow alert, measured delivery result or trading recommendation. Assume all times are on the same date in Eastern Time.

| Observation | Recorded time | | — | — | | Source explicitly labels its information “as of” | 10:00 a.m. | | Message receipt is established | 10:07 a.m. | | You begin reviewing the information | 10:25 a.m. |

The stated information time is 25 minutes before your review. That interval does not tell you whether the research is useful or whether a trade would be suitable.

Nor does the seven-minute gap before receipt establish a seven-minute message-delivery delay. Without the intermediate timestamps, you cannot identify where that interval arose.

The practical response is to verify the context at 10:25—not assume that receipt time resets the age of the information.

Copy this timing note

Research question: What am I trying to understand?
Data time: Date, time, zone, source and exact meaning—or unknown.
Receipt time: Established time, or the actual label available.
Review time: When I examined the information.
Context checked: What did I independently verify at review time?
Open questions: Which timestamps or facts remain uncertain?
Next step: Research further, revisit later or take no action.

For the broader review process, use our five-question stock alert guide. To match research frequency with your available attention, read Daily vs. Hourly Stock Alerts.

Use the seven-day trial to assess research fit

Foreshadow AI covers 520+ U.S. equities, with delivery through Telegram and Discord. We provide research and alerts; we do not execute subscriber trades.

During the seven-day trial, try this worksheet on information you actually review. Assess whether the research fits your routine and whether you can distinguish checked context from uncertainty. You do not need to place trades to evaluate those questions, and a short trial cannot establish dependable investment-performance expectations.

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References

Foreshadow AI plans — plan comparison and trial destination.
Stock Alert Confidence Scores: Five Questions Before You Act — companion research checklist.

Foreshadow AI provides market analytics and alerts for information and education. It does not execute trades for subscribers. Investing involves risk, including loss of capital. Past performance does not predict future results. Confidence scores are not calibrated probabilities of profit.

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