trader-skill: what do these 11 Claude skills actually do?

In mid-October an interesting project appeared on GitHub: trader-skill. It's by Jake Schincariol, MIT licensed, so free to use. In three weeks it collected over 1,300 stars (as of November 5).

One thing up front: we read its docs and code, but we didn't run it with our own money. This isn't a "go get it" article. We just want to explain what each part does.

What's a skill?

Think of it as a ready-made instruction that teaches Claude how to do one job. You say "show me Berkshire's portfolio", and the skill tells Claude which filing to open and how to work out the numbers. This project has 11 of those jobs.

Three for choosing

• /trader-copycat reads an investor's 13F filing at the SEC and shows the portfolio as percentages, plus what they bought and sold since last quarter.
• /trader-analyst pulls revenue, profit and margins from a company's official reports.
• /trader-screener checks companies against your own rules and ranks the ones that pass.

Here's what copycat produces for Berkshire. We recalculated the numbers from the SEC table and they match the README exactly:

Two for money and risk

/trader-budget splits your money across the stocks. The README uses $5,000 with 10% kept in cash and no stock above 25%. Apple's weight is larger, but the cap stops it at $1,250 and the excess goes to the others:

/trader-risk compares every order with the limits you set. If one goes over, it stops it and says why. Margin, shorts and options are off by default. We liked this part, because excitement is exactly when people forget their limits.

The important one: orders

/trader-broker shows the order in plain words and waits for your answer. We opened the code: this file never talks to a broker at all, it only prints the ticket and records your yes. A paper account is the default. A real order comes from the broker connector you attach, so both connecting it and approving the trade are your call.

The other five: watching and upkeep

• /trader-news checks headlines and SEC filings for the stocks you hold.
• /trader-pelosi turns stock trades disclosed by members of the US Congress into tables.
• /trader-alerts tells you when a price hits your level or the market opens.
• /trader-rebalance suggests trades when your weights drift from the target.
• /trader-tax tracks purchase prices, gains and losses. The author also says it isn't tax advice.

What to watch out for

Filings arrive late. The Berkshire table above shows June 30 and came out August 14, 45 days later. The fund may have sold in the meantime. Congressional trades work the same way: by law they can be disclosed up to 45 days after the trade.

The author says it too: copying an investor doesn't copy their results. We agree. If a fund's portfolio interests you, look at its changes on our superinvestors page first, and check each stock separately.

A skill makes the work faster, that's all. The decision is still yours.

For information only, not investment advice. This is a third-party project and we're not affiliated with it.