Help & Features

How Campus Alpha Works

Everything you need to know about tracking funds, submitting pitches, reading the data, and getting your university on the platform.

Features Scoring Join the Platform FAQ
Platform Features

Everything on the platform, explained

Fund Rankings

Every approved fund ranked by a composite score combining return (50%), target accuracy (30%), and execution speed (20%). Updated continuously as pitches close.

View Rankings ›
Monthly Recap

A full editorial breakdown every month: leaderboard movers, pitch of the month, analyst spotlight, sector in focus, biggest mover, and an head-to-head analysis.

View Recap ›
Analyst Accuracy

Individual analysts ranked across all funds using the same composite scoring system. Filter by fund or view the full platform leaderboard to find standout stock pickers.

View Analysts ›
Market Coverage

Every stock pitched across all funds aggregated into a coverage universe. Where multiple analysts cover the same stock, a weighted consensus target is calculated - like sell-side coverage.

View Coverage ›
Fund Profiles

Each fund has a dedicated page showing performance over time, top analysts, sector breakdown, every active pitch with live prices, and a complete closed pitch history with outcomes.

View Funds ›
Head to Head

A dedicated matchup page comparing two funds across every metric: monthly performance chart, hit rate, sector exposure, top pitches, analyst spotlights, and editorial commentary.

View via Recap ›
Pitches

How a pitch works

1
Submit a pitch

A fund manager logs in and submits a pitch: stock ticker, direction (long or short), entry price, target price, analyst name, and an investment thesis. The pitch is recorded immediately.

2
Live tracking begins

The platform fetches the current price for the stock from Yahoo Finance. Return, distance to target, and direction are calculated and updated in real time on the fund's profile page.

3
Target hit or pitch exited

When the stock reaches the target price the platform automatically flags it as a hit. Fund managers can also manually exit a pitch at any price. Both update the analyst's accuracy record.

4
Recorded permanently

Every pitch - open, closed, hit, or missed - stays on record forever. This builds a verified, objective track record that analysts can reference and share.

Example pitch
NVDA
Nvidia Corporation
Direction
LONG
Entry Price
$420.00
Target Price
$550.00
Upside
+30.9%
Investment Thesis

"Data centre demand continues to outpace supply. NVDA's H100 order backlog extends into Q3, margin expansion is underpriced by the market."

Scoring

How scores are calculated

Every fund and analyst receives a composite score derived from three performance signals. No subjectivity - purely data driven.

50%
Price Return

Avg return across all closed pitches. Longs measured from entry to exit; shorts measured inversely. Rewards both the magnitude and consistency of returns.

30%
Target Accuracy

How precisely the exit price matched the stated target. A pitch that exits exactly at target scores 100%. Rewards analysts who set realistic, well-researched targets.

20%
Execution Speed

How quickly a pitch reached its target after entry. Exponential decay scoring - faster hits score near 100, slower hits decay smoothly. Incentivises decisive calls.

Formula
FundScore = sampleSizeFactor(n) × (Return×0.5 + Accuracy×0.3 + Speed×0.2)

The sample size factor scales the score down for funds with fewer pitches, preventing a single lucky call from dominating the leaderboard.

Monthly Performance

How monthly returns are calculated

The platform avg return shown on the monthly recap covers all pitches that were active at any point during that month.

Active pitches

Price at first trading day of the month vs price at last trading day (or current price if the month is ongoing).

Pitches that closed this month

Price at first trading day of the month vs actual exit or target price at the point of closure.

Returns are equal-weighted: each pitch contributes equally to the platform average regardless of fund size. The S&P 500 return for the same month is shown as a benchmark.

Example calculation
March 2026 - 3 active pitches:
AAPL
+4.2%
TSLA (hit target)
+12.8%
AMZN
-2.1%
Platform avg
+4.97%
(4.2 + 12.8 - 2.1) / 3
Getting Started

Getting your fund on the platform

1
Register your fund

Fill out the registration form on the homepage with your fund name, university, and contact email. Approval usually takes 24-48 hours.

2
Receive your login

Once approved, the fund leader receives login credentials. You can manage pitches, add analysts, and edit fund details from the secure fund portal.

3
Start submitting pitches

Submit pitches directly from your fund's dashboard. Each pitch needs a ticker, direction, entry price, target, and analyst name. Historical pitches can be backdated.

4
Your fund goes live

Your fund profile, performance chart, and analyst rankings are immediately visible to everyone on the platform. You appear in the leaderboard, recap, and head-to-head.

What your fund gets
A public fund profile page with full pitch history and performance chart
Individual analyst rankings for every member of your fund
Monthly recap features: Pitch of the Month, Analyst of the Month, Head-to-Head
Coverage in the monthly newsletter sent to all subscribers
A verified, objective track record analysts can share on CVs and LinkedIn
Register Your Fund ›
Monthly Recap

What's in the Monthly Recap

Every month gets its own dedicated recap page. It combines live data with editorial commentary to tell the story of the month.

Pitch of the Month

The best individual pitch of the month, scored across return, conviction (ambition of the target), and execution speed. Includes the thesis and entry/target prices.

Analyst of the Month

The top-scoring analyst for the month, with their hit rate, score, and best pitch. Includes a runner-up and a visual hit-rate bar.

Monthly Leaderboard

Fund rankings for the month with proportional bar charts and rank-change arrows showing which funds moved up or down vs the previous month.

Sector in Focus

The sector with the highest average intra-month return across active pitches, with each stock's return listed.

Biggest Mover

The single pitch with the largest absolute return during the month, including who called it and which fund it belongs to.

Coming Close

The top 3 active pitches closest to hitting their target, shown as a progress bar from entry to target. 100% means the target has been hit.

Return Distribution

A histogram of all pitch intra-month returns. Dynamic range adjusts to the data spread. The S&P 500 benchmark is shown as a dashed line.

Headline & Stat of the Month

An editorial headline that captures the month's story, plus a pull-quote "stat of the month" with context - both generated from real platform data.

Each month's recap is permanent and shareable at a unique URL: campusalpha.net/recap?month=YYYY-MM. Past months are archived and accessible via the month navigation tabs.

Head to Head

Fund vs Fund deep analysis

Every month's recap includes a randomised head-to-head matchup between two of the active funds. Clicking "Full Analysis" opens the dedicated H2H page which goes significantly deeper.

Month performance chart - daily data points for both funds, normalised to 0% at the start of the month so you see relative intra-month movement.

Battle stats - six key metrics compared side by side (month return, all-time return, hit rate, active pitches, avg days to hit, long exposure). A summary declares who led on how many metrics.

Pitch return profile - a mini bar chart of every pitch's intra-month return for each fund, showing the distribution of hits and misses.

Commentary - an editorial comparison grounded in real return numbers, explaining what drove the gap between the two funds.

What the H2H page shows
Month performance chartDaily
Battle stats (6 metrics)New
Analyst spotlightPer fund
Pitch return profileNew
Sector exposure comparisonSide by side
All-time top pitchesPer fund
Editorial commentaryAuto
Newsletter

The Monthly Brief

Campus Alpha sends a monthly email newsletter to all subscribers summarising the month's most important data. The email is generated from real platform statistics.

Market Overview - Text describing real index and sector returns for the month, referencing major news events that drove markets.

Editorial headline - a punchy 10-word headline capturing the month's theme, plus a pull-quote "Stat of the Month."

Analyst of the Month - the top analyst's performance with stats and what set their approach apart.

Biggest Mover - the trade that defined the month, with return, analyst, and likely market drivers.

Leaderboard - fund standings with rank-change arrows and commentary on what the gap between funds tells us.

Subscribe to the newsletter

Enter your email on the homepage to receive the monthly brief. The newsletter goes out at the start of each month covering the previous month's data.

Subscribe on Homepage ›
Preview the email

Admins can preview the newsletter before sending at /api/newsletter/preview?month=YYYY-MM to review copy and layout before distribution.

FAQ

Frequently asked questions

All price data is sourced from Yahoo Finance in real time. Entry prices, target prices, and analyst names are submitted by fund managers and stored as-is. Campus Alpha does not adjust or normalise any submitted data.

The platform automatically monitors the live price for every active pitch. When the price reaches or crosses the target, the pitch is flagged as hit and the hit date is recorded. For long positions this means price >= target; for shorts, price <= target.

Yes. Fund managers can backdate pitches to any past date. Historical prices are fetched from Yahoo Finance to calculate the intra-month returns for those periods. This allows funds to build a full track record from day one.

If a stock is delisted or removed from Yahoo Finance, live price updates will stop and the pitch will show N/A for current price. You can manually exit the pitch at the last known price via the fund portal.

Log in to your fund portal, find the pitch under Active Pitches, and click Exit. Enter the exit price and date. The pitch will move to Past Pitches with the outcome recorded as Exited.

The platform avg return shown in the monthly recap hero covers all pitches active at any point during the month. Active pitches use start-of-month price vs end-of-month price. Pitches that closed during the month use start-of-month price vs the actual exit or target price. All pitches are equal-weighted.

Prices are fetched on demand when a page is loaded or an API call is made. There is no background polling. Prices reflect the most recent data available from Yahoo Finance at the time of the request.

Yes. A pitch can have multiple analyst names separated by commas. If two analysts worked on the same pitch, both names are recorded. For the MULTI badge on the coverage page, a pitch is only counted as multi-analyst coverage if it has two or more separate pitch entries on the same stock - not just two co-authors on one pitch.

The percentage shows how far a pitch has travelled from its entry price towards its target price. 0% means the stock is still at the entry price; 100% means the target has been hit. It does not mean how much of the journey is remaining.

Yes. Admins can use the bulk import tool in the admin portal to upload pitches via CSV. The CSV must include: fund name, stock, direction, entry price, target price, entry date, and analyst name.

Once a pitch hits its target, the return is floored at the target price - it cannot go negative after hitting. However, if the stock continues running beyond the target, the return tracks live price up to 2x the original target. This prevents indefinite drift on positions that ran far beyond the call.