The Challenge
The SEC EDGAR database receives thousands of 8-K filings every week. These filings contain material events that can significantly impact a company's stock price — but they're buried in dense legalese and published without fanfare. By the time a human reads and interprets them, the market has often already moved.
Microcap Alerts focuses on micro-cap companies ($10M–$300M market cap), where information asymmetry is highest and analyst coverage is thinnest. These are the companies where an 8-K filing is most likely to contain information the market hasn't priced in.
The Pipeline
EDGAR Monitoring
We poll the SEC EDGAR full-text search API every few minutes, filtering for 8-K filings from companies in our micro-cap universe. When a new filing appears, we fetch the full text content for analysis.
AI Triage (Pass 1)
Every filing goes through an initial AI analysis that classifies the signal type, assigns a severity level, extracts key facts, and identifies red flags. This first pass processes filings quickly and at low cost, ensuring nothing slips through.
Deep Analysis (Pass 2)
Filings that trigger escalation criteria — high severity, going concern language, delisting notices, bankruptcy, or financial restatements — are sent to a second, more capable AI model for a detailed second opinion. This reduces false positives and provides richer analysis.
Alert Delivery
Alerts are delivered to subscribers via email within minutes of the filing appearing on EDGAR. Each alert includes the signal type, severity, AI-generated summary, red flags, and a direct link to the original SEC filing.
What We Detect
Our AI is trained to recognize the following signal categories in 8-K filings:
| Signal Type | What It Means |
|---|---|
| Delisting Notice | Company received non-compliance warning from exchange |
| Going Concern | Auditor expresses doubt about company's ability to continue operating |
| Bankruptcy | Chapter 7 or Chapter 11 filing disclosed |
| Reverse Split | Share consolidation, often to meet minimum price requirements |
| Restatement | Previously filed financial statements are being corrected |
| Officer Change | Key executive departure or appointment |
| Auditor Change | Company switches auditing firm — sometimes a red flag |
| Material Agreement | Significant contract, merger, acquisition, or financing |
Severity Levels
Each alert is assigned a severity level based on the potential market impact:
| Level | Description |
|---|---|
| Critical | Imminent existential threat — bankruptcy, delisting, fraud |
| High | Significant negative event likely to move the stock |
| Medium | Notable event worth monitoring; uncertain impact |
| Low | Routine filing or minor event; low expected impact |
Data Sources
All filing data comes directly from the SEC EDGAR database, the official public repository of corporate filings. Company market capitalization data is sourced from Financial Modeling Prep. We do not use non-public or insider information.