Fact Check Before You Invest: How Facticity AI Supports Smarter Investing for Retail Investors
- Wang Yifei
- Apr 17
- 6 min read
April 8th - The Hard Decision You're sitting in front of your screen with five tabs open: Reddit, TikTok, TradingView, and CNBC. Notifications are pouring in.
Across financial media and online forums, a wave of rumors is gaining traction—the Trump administration is reportedly considering suspending tariffs as a potential strategy to ease economic tensions and stabilize markets.
“Trump’s planning to suspend China tariffs—confirmed by a source close to the White House.”
“Now’s the time to go all in on tech.”
“Semiconductor stocks are about to take off. Don’t miss the rally.”
These headlines are spreading like wildfire. And if you're like most retail investors, your heart starts racing—because a decent chunk of your savings is already sitting in U.S. semiconductor stocks like Marvell Technology and Nasdaq Composite.
Let’s say you’re a Gen Z investor. You get your trade ideas from TikTok, Reddit, and YouTube shorts. Maybe you cross-check insights quickly with AI tools like ChatGPT, skim charts on TradingView, and make decisions using a brokerage app like Tiger or Webull.
Or maybe you're a Millennial retail investor, digesting daily newsletters like Morning Brew and The Hustle, diving into 10-Ks and earnings transcripts for deep analysis, and cross-referencing data like P/E ratios, free cash flow, and moat strength to inform your investment strategy.
But regardless of your style, one thing’s certain: the market is volatile, and everyone—from influencers to analysts—is throwing out their own interpretation of what might happen next.
Caught in the wave of optimism and urgency, you decide to act. You increase your equity exposure, reducing your bond allocation to double down on tech stocks, convinced that if tariffs are suspended, growth and margins will soar.
April 9th - The Reality Check
The next morning, President Trump addresses the nation. Instead of lifting tariffs, he announces a 90-day suspension on some tariffs but raises tariffs on Chinese imports to 145%—shocking the markets. Tech stocks with heavy exposure to Chinese supply chains plunge.
You watch helplessly as the value of your portfolio drops, as the semiconductor stocks are reliant on production and manufacturing outside the U.S. You had acted on unverified information without fact-checking the rumor or waiting for credible confirmation.
You realize: you let social media dictate your investment strategy without doing proper fact checking—and it costs you.
Retail Investor’s Dilemma: Too Much Speculation, Not Enough Verified Info – Where Can You Fact Check?
In today’s digital-first financial landscape, retail investors are constantly surrounded by a whirlwind of speculation. Open one tab and a macro strategist is confidently predicting the end of the U.S.-China tariff war. Scrolling through social media is Trump’s enthusiastic “THIS IS A GREAT TIME TO BUY!!!” hours before increasing the tariffs on China. News headlines compete with opinion threads, and algorithm-driven content floods your feed faster than you can process.
On top of rumors and conflicting headlines on Trump’s tariffs, retail investors are constantly exposed to a stream of economic data releases—U.S. Initial Jobless Claims, PMI, Non-Farm Payrolls (NFP), and FOMC statements, to name a few. These updates, published almost daily (Trading Economics), provide valuable insights but are often quickly picked up by self-proclaimed financial influencers on platforms like X (formerly Twitter). These individuals frequently offer oversimplified interpretations, turning complex data into sweeping market predictions—e.g., “PMI is down, so the market will tank,” or “Jobless claims missed expectations, so USD will spike.” In reality, the relationship between data and market behavior is rarely so binary. For retail investors navigating today’s information overload, it becomes increasingly difficult to distinguish genuine insights from speculative noise.
You’re not just dealing with conflicting takes—you’re managing real money.
The stakes for acting on unverified information are high. In volatile conditions, reacting too quickly—or based on inaccurate data—can significantly hurt your financial outcomes. Let’s look at how different asset classes respond to policy shifts like tariffs:
Equities: These are often the most reactive asset class. Sectors such as technology, consumer electronics, and automotive—which rely heavily on Chinese imports and global manufacturing—are especially sensitive to rising tariffs. Higher production costs often translate into lower earnings and falling stock prices.
Bonds: Typically more stable than equities, bonds can offer a safe haven during turbulent market cycles. When uncertainty rises, investors often rotate into fixed-income instruments to preserve capital and reduce exposure to volatility.
Cash: While holding cash gives you flexibility, it’s vulnerable to erosion through inflation. In an environment where central banks are still managing inflationary pressures, keeping too much uninvested capital can diminish your purchasing power over time.
With your portfolio split between equities, bonds, and a small buffer of cash, you’re trying to protect gains while navigating a market shaped by high inflation, hawkish Fed guidance, and geopolitical instability.
You want to act. But the question is: who—and what—can you trust?
Meet Facticity AI: The Real-Time Fact-Checking Tool Retail Investors Can Trust
Just when the noise becomes overwhelming, you remember a tool a fellow investor mentioned—Facticity AI.
Built to combat misinformation, Facticity AI verifies market-related claims in real time, scanning statements across text, video, and audio to determine whether they're true, false, or unverifiable. For investors like you, it could be the difference between following market noise and making evidence-based decisions.
5 Ways Facticity AI Helps Retail Investors Make Smarter, Evidence-Based Investment Decisions
1. Fact Check Rumors Before You Invest: Facticity AI's Instant Verification Tool
Imagine seeing this on X (formerly Twitter): “U.S. to suspend all tariffs by end of Q2. Massive tailwinds for tech and semis.”
Instead of guessing or Googling endlessly, you can run this statement through Facticity AI. It cross-checks against credible sources—news articles, government databases, and financial reports—and gives you a truth label + explanation within seconds.
Verdict: ❌ False
Explanation: No official policy or credible report supports a full suspension of tariffs, the US is expected to maintain its current tariff regime.
2. Get Credible Investment Sources Instantly: How Facticity AI Supports Informed Decisions
Facticity AI doesn’t just tell you what to believe—it shows you why. It backs up its fact-checks with real, up-to-date sources, helping you make confident, informed decisions. No more relying on random Reddit threads or viral TikTok videos.
3. Not Sure What to Fact Check? Let Facticity AI's Disambiguity Tool Clarify Your Market Questions
Not sure how to phrase what you're trying to validate? Use Facticity AI’s Disambiguity feature—enter your rough thought like: “Will increased tariffs affect NVIDIA’s Q2 performance?”
The tool will ask clarifying questions (e.g. timeframe, metric, sector focus) and then reshape your input into a clear, testable claim.
Perfect for retail investors who aren’t always sure how to frame what they’re looking for.
4. Get Balanced Perspectives on Market Claims: How Facticity AI Categorizes Sources for Smarter Investing
Apart from refining and testing your claims, the “Writer” function in Facticity AI allows you to receive categorized sources:
Supporting
Neutral
Against
This helps you understand both bullish and bearish outlooks on a trend before taking a position. It's especially useful for retail investors aiming for balanced risk and diversified opinions.
5. Fact Check and Cite Your Investment Research in One Click with Facticity AI
Creating investment memos or tracking your thesis? With Facticity AI, you can cite sources effortlessly, ensuring transparency in your portfolio decisions.
With citations
Just citations
Export sources directly
In a Volatile Market, Fact Checking Is Your Edge as a Retail Investor
In a market defined by volatility, speculation, and noise, information is your greatest edge. Facticity AI offers that edge—giving you the power to validate fast-moving claims before you act.
Whether you’re rotating into bonds, hedging your exposure, or holding through the storm, Facticity AI helps you:
Try Facticity AI Today
Whether you're a new retail investor or a seasoned trader navigating choppy waters, Facticity AI gives you the clarity, speed, and trustworthiness needed to make smarter moves.
Don’t let speculation guide your portfolio.
Let facts do the work.
