The signals, defined
Price & change (e.g. $0.35 ▲ +0.4%)
The price is what it costs to unlock that single article right now, in U.S. dollars or the equivalent in TPC credits. It is set by live demand — how many readers are opening, reading, and saving the story — so it moves continuously, like a quote. The percentage is the change since the previous reference point. A story you looked at minutes ago may show a slightly different price on reload; that is the live market updating, not an error.
QMV — Quality / Market Value
A normalized 0–1 score combining editorial signal strength with current reader demand. Higher QMV means the story is both well-sourced and actively in demand. It is a relative indicator, not a rating of factual accuracy.
CONF — Confidence
How confident our pricing model is in the displayed price, on a 0–100 scale. A high CONF means demand data is stable and the price is unlikely to swing; a low CONF means the story is new or volatile and the price may move quickly.
LIVE / MED / LOW + seconds (e.g. MED 14s)
The update tier and refresh cadence. LIVE stories re-price in near real time; MED and LOW re-price less often. The seconds value is how frequently that story's price is recalculated.
TPC credits
TPC (TimePay Credits) are the on-site currency for unlocking articles. You can unlock any story with a card or with TPC; the article price is shown in both. Credits never expire and any article you unlock stays in your Library permanently.
Publisher FAQ
Do I have to subscribe? No. TimePay lets you pay per article instead of committing to a subscription. Unlock only what you read.
Why do prices change? Prices reflect live reader demand, so they move throughout the day. The CONF score tells you how stable a given price is.
Is this investment advice? No. The signals describe article demand on this site only. Market data shown elsewhere on the site is informational and not investment advice.