A tiny, dependency-free calculator for the Information Coefficient (IC) of a trading signal — the cross-sectional correlation between a signal's forecasts and the returns that follow. Paste two columns (predictions and realized returns) and it returns:
- the Spearman rank IC (the conventional headline measure),
- the Pearson IC (linear correlation),
- a t-stat for significance (
t = IC·√((n−2)/(1−IC²)), df = n−2), and - a scatter plot of predictions vs returns with the OLS fit line.
It's a single index.html — vanilla JS, inline SVG, no build step, no dependencies.
The rank IC (Spearman's ρ) is the standard because it only assumes a monotonic relationship between forecast and outcome, and it's robust to the fat tails and outliers that dominate return data. The Pearson IC assumes linearity and is more sensitive to a few extreme observations. This tool reports both, and handles ties in the ranking with average ranks.
For context, real cross-sectional ICs are usually small — often ≈0.02–0.10 over hundreds of names — and a signal is judged by the consistency of its IC over many periods (the IC Information Ratio, ICIR), not a single cross-section. See the full explainer: Information Coefficient (IC).
This is an educational tool, not investment advice.
Open index.html in any modern browser. Paste your predictions and realized forward
returns (one value per line, rows matched in order), click Calculate IC, and read
off the rank IC, Pearson IC, t-stat, and scatter plot.
A hosted, always-current version lives at https://microalphas.com/tools/information-coefficient-calculator/ and can be embedded:
<iframe src="https://microalphas.com/tools/information-coefficient-calculator/" width="720" height="640" frameborder="0" loading="lazy" title="Information Coefficient Calculator"></iframe>
<p style="font:13px/1.4 sans-serif;margin:6px 0 0">Powered by the <a href="https://microalphas.com/tools/information-coefficient-calculator/">Information Coefficient Calculator</a> from <a href="https://microalphas.com/">Micro Alphas</a></p>Built by Micro Alphas — a free, ad-free reference on quantitative signal research. Related reading:
- Information Coefficient (IC): how to measure signal skill
- Information Ratio (IR)
- Signal Decay Calculator (sister tool)
- Reading list — the foundational papers
MIT — see LICENSE. Free to use, fork, and embed.