Seeking Alpha is a crowd-sourced content service that publishes news on financial markets. It is accessible via a website and mobile app. After a free trial period, users must pay a subscription fee to access content. Independent contributors, mostly from the buy side, write almost all of the articles published by the service and are paid based on how many subscribers access their articles. Notable contributors include Henry Blodget and Paco Ahlgren.[citation needed]
Seeking Alpha was founded in 2004 by former Morgan Stanley technology analyst David Jackson.[1]
In 2014, the Review of Financial Studies published Wisdom of Crowds: The Value of Stock Opinions Transmitted Through Social Media. Researchers from City University of Hong Kong, Purdue University and Georgia Institute of Technology analyzed approximately 100,000 Seeking Alpha articles and commentary published between 2005 and 2012. The researchers looked at the ability of Seeking Alpha articles to predict not only future stock returns (a variable susceptible to influence by analysts' published opinions), but also future earnings surprises (a variable unlikely to be influenced by published opinions). The authors found that views expressed in Seeking Alpha articles, as well as reader commentaries on those articles, did predict future stock returns over every time-frame examined, from one month to three years. Articles and reader commentaries also predicted earning surprises.[2][3]
Awards and recognition
In 2007, Seeking Alpha was selected by Kiplinger's as Best Investment Informant.[4]
In 2011, Seeking Alpha Market Currents was listed as number one in Inc.'s list of Essential Economic blogs.[5]
In 2013, Wired named Seeking Alpha one of the "core nutrients of a good data diet."[6]
Allegations of market manipulation
Seeking Alpha has been alleged to be a platform for market manipulators by giving some investors the ability to post highly negative news or analysis about a company causing a rapid decline in the stock price when their followers rushed to sell. One study that tracked the publication of negative Seeking Alpha articles by a group of writers resulted in over $20 billion in mispricing and attributed this to manipulation.[7]
Another study showed that short sellers blog negatively about a stock and then close out their short positions and buy "aggressively" when the price subsequently declines.[8]
Despite facing allegations, Seeking Alpha has not been held legally liable by either a court or the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission and no definitive verdict has been reached in this matter.[9]
