# Alpha Factory — Signal Fusion

**Canonical URL:** https://stratcraft.ai/alpha-factory

## Thesis

Signals are commodities. Combinators are moats.

The most important architectural decision in quantitative trading — and the case against signals as a product — told through three axioms, five fusion methods, and four firms.

## What Alpha Factory Is

Alpha Factory is the productized combinator layer from StratCraft. It fuses many noisy signal reads into one confident bet per symbol per tick, then ranks across symbols into a Scoreboard.

- **5 fusion methods**: Equal Weight, Confidence Weighted, Voting, Max Confidence, Min Confidence
- **2-layer architecture**: Signal Factory (recipe layer) + Combinator (fusion/scheduler layer)
- **Dual runtime**: Python backtest, C++23 live execution
- **4-firm evidence base**: Medallion (fusion lived), LTCM (no fusion died), Jane Street (quoting engine lived), QuantConnect (signal marketplace died)

## Topic Cluster

This is the pillar/hub page for the Alpha Factory topic cluster:

1. **Signal Taxonomy** — `/alpha-factory/signal-taxonomy` — The A/B/C layered structure separating recipes, ingredients, and the combinator
2. **How It Works** — `/alpha-factory/how-it-works` — Architecture, five fusion methods, Python + C++23 runtime
3. **Medallion · Signal Fusion** — `/alpha-factory/medallion-signal-fusion` — Case study: the canonical ensemble that survived everything
4. **LTCM · The Limits** — `/alpha-factory/ltcm-lessons` — Case study: one model, no combinator, dead in four months
5. **Jane Street · The Craft** — `/alpha-factory/jane-street-craft` — Case study: the quoting engine as combinator
6. **QuantConnect · Commodities** — `/alpha-factory/signals-are-commodities` — Case study: infra lived, signal marketplace died
7. **Signal Fusion Infographic** — `/alpha-factory/signal-fusion-infographic` — Three pictures explaining the take-C thesis

## Key Terms

- **Signal Pack**: Layer A — a recipe (Indicator, HMM, ML, or Factor) that emits one SignalOut per call
- **Data Layer**: Layer B — the substrate (L1 OHLCV, L2 318-factor library, L3 alternative data)
- **Combinator**: Layer C — the scheduler/fusion engine. The only moat in the taxonomy.
- **SignalOut**: Typed output: direction (LONG/SHORT/NEUT) + confidence (0–1)
- **FusedOut**: Combinator output: one direction + one confidence per symbol per tick
- **Scoreboard**: Ranked FusedOut across all symbols

## Brand

- Product: StratCraft
- URL: https://stratcraft.ai
- This page: dark standalone design