Avoiding False Alarms: Fine-Tuning Your Alert Settings

One of the biggest challenges with political event monitoring is alert fatigue. Create too many alerts, and you’re drowning in notifications. Miss important signals because 90% are noise.

The key is right-tuning your alerts. Too broad = fatigue. Too narrow = miss important events.

The Alert Fatigue Problem

Scenario: The Beginner New PoliStock user creates these alerts:

• “All elections”
• “All regulatory changes”
• “All policy announcements”
• “All geopolitical news”

Result:

• Receives 30+ alerts per day
• Can’t read all of them
• Misses important ones because buried in noise
• Stops checking alerts after week 1

Better approach: Create focused alerts that match your specific holdings and risk tolerance.

Alert Settings Hierarchy

Level 1: Broad Category (Start here)

What sector/asset class do you care about most?

Example selections:

• If heavy in tech: Create “Technology” alert
• If heavy in energy: Create “Energy” alert
• If heavy in healthcare: Create “Healthcare” alert

Expected alert frequency: 2-3 per day per sector

Level 2: Sub-Sector (Add specificity)

Within each broad category, which specific issues matter?

Tech Examples:

• “Antitrust” (if worried about company breakup)
• “Privacy regulation” (if company data-dependent)
• “Content moderation policy” (if social media company)

Energy Examples:

• “Climate regulation” (if fossil fuel company)
• “Renewable subsidies” (if renewable company)
• “Oil/gas drilling policy” (if exploration company)

Expected alert frequency: 1-2 per day per sub-sector

Level 3: Company-Specific (Maximum specificity)

Do you have large concentrated positions in specific companies?

Example:

• Large Tesla position → set “Tesla-specific alerts”
• Large Apple position → set “Apple iPhone regulation,” “Apple antitrust”
• Large Nvidia position → set “Nvidia export controls,” “AI regulation”

Expected alert frequency: 0-1 per day per company

Alert Filtering Strategies

Strategy 1: Impact Score Filtering

PoliStock assigns impact scores (0-100) to events. Higher = more likely to move markets.

Impact Score Guide:

• 0-20: Minimal impact (regulatory proposal, early discussion)
• 20-40: Low impact (bill introduced, committee discussion)
• 40-60: Moderate impact (bill votes, agency decisions)
• 60-80: High impact (policy passes, major regulation implemented)
• 80-100: Extreme impact (major policy shifts, election outcomes)

How to use:

• Set alerts for “Impact score > 50 only”
• This filters out ~70% of noise while keeping major events
• Receives ~2-4 high-impact alerts per day instead of 30

Conservative approach: Impact > 60 Moderate approach: Impact > 50 Aggressive approach: Impact > 40

Strategy 2: Time Horizon Filtering

Create different alerts for different time horizons.

Real-time alerts (immediate action):

• Impact > 70 events only
• Events affecting your current holdings
• Things that require same-day response

Daily digest (tactical planning):

• Impact 50-70 events
• Broader sector trends
• Events that might affect your holdings in coming weeks

Weekly summary (strategic planning):

• Impact 30-50 events
• Emerging trends
• Long-term shifts that won’t affect portfolio this month

How to set:

• Real-time: Notification type = “Immediate”
• Daily digest: Notification type = “Nightly email”
• Weekly: Notification type = “Friday email”

This prevents alert fatigue while keeping you informed at appropriate timescales.

Strategy 3: Portfolio Relevance Filtering

PoliStock can filter alerts to show only those relevant to your specific portfolio.

How it works:

1. Connect your brokerage
2. PoliStock analyzes your holdings
3. Alerts show only events affecting stocks you own

Example: You own Apple, Microsoft, Intel (tech) and Exxon (energy).

Alerts you’ll see:

• Tech antitrust developments (relevant)
• Energy climate policy (relevant)
• Healthcare drug pricing (NOT relevant → filtered out)
• Agricultural policy (NOT relevant → filtered out)

Result: 80% reduction in noise, only relevant alerts shown

Common False Alert Types and How to Avoid Them

False Alert Type 1: Proposal That Never Passes

Congress proposes 100 bills per year. Maybe 10 pass.

Alert fatigue: Get alert for every bill proposed, but 90% don’t matter.

Solution: Only alert for bills that have >50% probability of passing.

How to detect:

• Look at bill sponsors (bipartisan = higher pass probability)
• Check committee assignment (in relevant committee = higher probability)
• Look at history of similar bills

False Alert Type 2: Event That Won’t Affect Your Holdings

FDA approves heart disease drug. You own tech stocks. Not relevant.

Solution: Set “portfolio relevance” filter to only show alerts affecting your holdings.

False Alert Type 3: Announcement Without Implementation

Company announces it will comply with new regulation. Stock moves briefly, then settles because announcement was ahead of news.

Solution: Set alerts for actual implementation, not announcements. Track bills from proposal → committee → vote → passage → implementation. Only react to passage/implementation stages.

False Alert Type 4: Regional/Segmented Impact

EU implements privacy regulation. You only own US companies. Not directly relevant.

Solution: Set geographic filters. Only alert for US/relevant regions.

False Alert Type 5: Already Priced In

Election polls shift 2 points. Markets already priced in this probability. Move = 0%.

Solution: Only alert for significant changes (5+ point polling shifts). Ignore small movements.

The “Goldilocks” Alert Setting

Perfect alert setting: Not too broad, not too narrow.

Start With This Configuration:

Tier 1 - Real-Time Alerts (Immediate Notification)

• Events with impact score > 65
• Events directly affecting your top 3 holdings
• Geopolitical crises (war, sanctions escalation)
• Fed interest rate decisions

Tier 2 - Daily Digest (Email, once per day)

• Events with impact score 40-65
• Sector alerts matching your portfolio sectors
• Polling/election developments (during election season)
• Regulatory developments in your sectors

Tier 3 - Weekly Summary (Email, once per week)

• Events with impact score 20-40
• Emerging trends (bill introductions, early proposals)
• Long-term shifts (political cycles, regime changes)

Adjust Based on Your Response

If getting too many alerts:

• Increase Tier 1 threshold from 65 to 75
• Reduce digest frequency (switch to weekly)
• Add portfolio relevance filtering

If missing important events:

• Decrease Tier 1 threshold from 65 to 55
• Add specific company alerts
• Increase digest frequency

Advanced: Creating Custom Alert Combinations

Combine multiple filters to create highly targeted alerts:

Example 1: Healthcare Investor

• Alert: “Healthcare regulation” AND high-impact AND portfolio relevant
• Result: Only healthcare regulatory alerts that affect your holdings, high impact

Example 2: Tech Trader

• Alert: “Tech antitrust” AND specific company name
• Result: Only antitrust alerts about the specific company you trade

Example 3: Tariff Trader

• Alert: “Trade policy” AND major developments
• Result: Only significant trade events, not every minor mention

Testing Your Alert Settings

Don’t set and forget. Test your alerts.

First week:

• Set broad alerts
• See what comes through
• Assess: Is this useful? Does this move markets?

Second week:

• Adjust based on first week
• Increase/decrease specificity
• Test new filter combinations

Monthly review:

• Are you acting on your alerts?
• Are alerts driving profitable trades?
• If not, make more radical adjustments

Using PoliStock’s Recommended Settings

New users can start with PoliStock’s pre-built alert templates:

1. “Conservative Investor” - Few alerts, high impact only
2. “Active Investor” - Moderate alerts, sector-focused
3. “Day Trader” - Many alerts, highest sensitivity
4. “Sector Focus” - Customize by sector
5. “Company-Specific” - Monitor specific holdings

These templates are optimized for different trader types. Start with the template closest to your profile, then customize.

Bottom Line: Right-Size Your Alerts

Too many alerts = alert fatigue = missed opportunities. Too few alerts = miss important events.

The sweet spot is getting 2-5 high-quality actionable alerts per day.

Sign up for PoliStock today and fine-tune your alert settings. Start with recommended templates, customize for your portfolio, and receive only alerts that matter for your trading strategy.