What the CLI Is (and Isn’t)

The Crypto Liquidity Impulse is a weighted z-score composite measuring how fast global liquidity transmits into crypto. Not how much liquidity exists. How fast it’s moving.

That distinction matters. “Impulse” rather than “Flow” because we’re measuring rate of change, the second derivative. A positive CLI means the liquidity impulse is expanding. Negative means it’s contracting. The direction of the impulse has been a better predictor of forward returns than the level of liquidity itself.

The architecture is three tiers, eight components, spanning from the global macro backdrop down to on-chain capital deployment. Each tier captures a different lead time, and they compound. When all three tiers align, the signal is strong. When they diverge, something interesting is happening.