The library
Editorial standard
This database exists to be checked, not believed. Below is what every paper must satisfy before it is published and what happens to it afterwards. Each rule is enforced by the publishing pipeline; none is a promise.
1. Scope
Four markets — stocks, futures, commodities and prediction markets — and the methods that apply across them: quantitative testing, order flow and market structure, price-action frameworks (ICT / SMC, always with the skeptic's reading), and open-source indicators. No product is sold, so nothing here has a reason to persuade you.
2. Structure of a paper
Abstract · core concept · mechanics · a worked example with real historical context · limitations (mandatory, and genuinely critical) · summary · Key definitions · References. A paper missing Key definitions or References is not published.
3. Citations
References are numbered and every sourced claim, figure or rule in the body carries its inline marker [n]. Every external reference is a live link at publication time: the pipeline HEAD-requests each URL and rejects the paper if any link fails. Links that die later are unlinked by the weekly audit and marked “link no longer resolves”. Papers written before this rule (2026-08-26) receive markers in an audit pass that may only insert markers — if the model changes a single word, the pass is discarded.
3b. Primary sources first
At least two references per new paper must be primary: exchange rule books, contract specs and fee schedules (CME Group, Cboe, ICE, Nasdaq, NYSE, Kalshi), regulators (CFTC, SEC, FINRA, NFA), central banks and statistical agencies (Federal Reserve, FRED, BLS, EIA, USDA), or peer-reviewed and working papers (DOI, SSRN, NBER, arXiv). Such references are tagged (primary) in the list and counted on the paper. Blogs, vendors and encyclopedias are secondary and are cited only for what they themselves say.
4. Backtests and numbers
Strategy work follows a pre-registered, anti-overfit protocol: chronological splits, realistic costs, trial correction, untouched holdouts. “No edge found” is a valid, publishable result. No paper states a return, win rate or edge without the sample size and the assumptions behind it.
5. Drafting, AI, and who is accountable
Drafts are produced with AI assistance under this standard, then pass a deterministic cleanup (invisible-character and watermark removal, stock-phrase stripping) and an automated standards review (sections, links, citation markers, primary-source count) before a slot on the release calendar that a human can hold or kill. We do not claim a person has read every paper. The editor of record, Shane Canty, answers for this standard and for correcting or withdrawing any paper on a reported error.
6. Weekly re-audit
Every Sunday the entire library is re-checked: sections present, every link re-verified (dead links are unlinked and flagged), product wording removed, review date restamped. The Glossary of Definitions is rebuilt from the papers the same day. Every run is recorded, paper by paper, on the public audit log.
7. Corrections and withdrawal
Papers that no longer meet the standard are unpublished rather than quietly edited. Report an error to support@prop-ledger.org; corrections restamp the review date on the paper.
8. What this is not
Not investment advice, not a signal service, never a performance promise. Historical data only. Past results do not predict future performance.