Source Layers Behind Market Overviews

The overview problem

An overview is supposed to orient. Too often it becomes a collage: a regulatory statistic beside a vendor claim beside an analyst paraphrase, all written in the same tone. Readers experience authority; the archive loses provenance. InvestCAD treats source layering as the minimum viable discipline for any market overview that will be re-read months later.

A practical layer model

• Primary — issuer filings, product documentation, open government or regulator materials.
• Secondary — journalism, industry directories, academic summaries that cite primaries.
• Derived — calculations or classifications produced inside the research process, labeled as derived.
• Narrative — connective prose that must not smuggle new facts.

Each figure that enters the archive carries a layer tag and a capture date. If a derived figure depends on two primaries captured on different days, both dates stay visible.

Why capture dates are first-class

Markets and product pages change. An overview that treats “as of today” as implicit invents a present tense that no source supports. Dating the capture is not bureaucracy; it is the condition for later audit.

If a number cannot state its layer and capture window, it is not ready for the overview — it is still a draft fragment.

Assisted tagging without silent invention

Models can propose source-type labels and flag contradictions between layers. They must not invent bridging statistics. When a draft overview “balances” a missing primary with a secondary average, the protocol rejects the bridge unless the average is itself sourced and labeled secondary.

Contradiction handling

1. Register both statements with layer and date.
2. Avoid choosing the “cleaner” version without stating the criterion.
3. Leave the contradiction in the overview as a finding when unresolved.

Forced synthesis feels professional and often destroys the most informative signal in the material: instability of the public record.

Template close

A finished overview block should include: layer legend, dated inventory, contradiction list (even if empty), and known unknowns. Without the last two, the document still looks complete and still fails the audit test.