How to ask better questions
More specific in, sharper answer out. A 5-minute read that turns vague prompts into precise ones.
5 universal principles
These apply to every question type. Each one is anchored in a real failure mode.
Name the ticker
Use the symbol (TCS.NS, AAPL), not the company name.
Why: Avoids ambiguity (HDFC = HDFC Bank? HDFC Life?).
State the market
Say 'Indian', 'US', or 'Crypto' in the query.
Why: Screener defaults to India when ambiguous.
Add a timeframe
'Last 5 days', 'today', 'over 30 days' — not 'recently'.
Why: Triggers the right tool (temporal vs snapshot).
One intent per message
Multi-intent works, but two short follow-ups beat one long combo.
Why: The chatbot remembers the last turn — use it.
Don't ask predictions
Replace 'will X go up?' with 'is X technically oversold?'
Why: The agent describes state; it doesn't forecast.
Per-agent prompting
The chatbot routes to one of 5 specialists. Phrasing nudges it to the right one.
Best when you want a buy/hold/sell take on stocks you can name.
Good prompts
- ✓Analyze RELIANCE.NS
- ✓Is TCS a buy right now?
- ✓Compare HDFCBANK and SBIN on fundamentals + technicals
- ✓Should I hold ITC for 6 months?
- ✓Deep-dive on AAPL with sentiment
Less effective
- ✗Tell me about Indian banks — no ticker → routes to screener
- ✗Which tech stock is best? — no ticker → clarify
- ✗Analyze Tata — ambiguous (Motors? Steel? Consumer?) → clarify
Tips
- •Up to 3 tickers → side-by-side comparison card.
- •Add personal context for sharper takes: "I hold INFY at ₹1,700 — avg down or sell?"
- •Append "with news" to pull researcher in parallel.
Use when you want stocks matching specific filters (RSI, P/E, ROE, sector, …).
Good prompts
- ✓Indian stocks with P/E under 20 and ROE over 25%
- ✓US tech with revenue growth > 15% and debt/equity < 1
- ✓Top 10 NSE stocks by volume today
- ✓Banks with PB < 1.5 and dividend yield > 2%
- ✓Indian small-caps (mcap 1,000–5,000 Cr) with Piotroski ≥ 6
Less effective
- ✗Find good stocks — too vague → clarify
- ✗Stocks crossing above 50-SMA in last 5 days — temporal → better as live_market
Tips
- •Always include the universe + at least one numeric filter.
- •Plain values: "ROE > 25%", "P/E < 20", "mcap > ₹5,000 Cr".
- •Sector names work: "Banking", "Auto Components", "IT Services".
- •Zero results → the screener tells you which filter killed it. Loosen that one.
Use when the question needs history or a cross-row computation.
Good prompts
- ✓Indian large-caps that crossed above their 50-day SMA in the last 5 days
- ✓Stocks with MACD positive for 5 consecutive days
- ✓Top 3 gainers per Indian sector today
- ✓Indian large-caps with unusual volume (3× avg) and flat price (±1%) today
- ✓Z-score of RSI within each Indian sector — 5 most extreme outliers
- ✓Compare Banking vs IT sector in India — avg RSI / PE / ROE
Less effective
- ✗Indian stocks RSI < 30 — snapshot → routes to screener (faster)
- ✗Stocks that will go up — prediction → refused
Tips
- •Phrasing like "crossed" / "in last N days" / "consecutive" picks the typed scan_crossover tool — fewer retries, cleaner output.
- •Sandbox auto-corrects common column typos. No need to know schema names.
- •"Today" on India = the latest of 2 daily snapshots, not real-time tick.
Use when you want what's happening, not what the indicators say.
Good prompts
- ✓Any news on HCL Tech in the past week
- ✓What's happening with Indian IT sector this week
- ✓Summarize this article: <url>
- ✓Read these two URLs and tell me the key takeaways: <url1>, <url2>
- ✓Latest announcements from Indian PSU banks this month
Less effective
- ✗News for stocks — no ticker/sector → clarify
- ✗What will the budget impact? — prediction → refused
Tips
- •Specify the time window ("this week", "today", "past month").
- •Paste URLs directly — the agent reads and synthesizes each.
- •If the feed is empty or irrelevant, the agent says so. It won't fabricate news.
Use when you want to learn something, not screen data.
Good prompts
- ✓What is the Piotroski score?
- ✓Explain RSI vs Stochastic
- ✓What does it mean when MACD is positive but RSI is below 30?
- ✓Where do I start with ₹50k?
Tips
- •Compound concepts ("MACD positive + RSI < 30") get explained as a combined signal.
- •"Where do I start" answers give a framework, not stock picks.
Clarify — when the agent asks back
Triggers on genuinely ambiguous queries. Examples: "Find good stocks" (no market, no criteria); "Analyze HDFC" (HDFC Bank? AMC? Life?); "5 small-caps that will 10×" (refuses the promise, asks for real criteria).
Tip: read what the agent asked — the missing fields are usually listed. Adding those 1–2 details turns a vague query into an answered one.
Multi-turn — following up
The chatbot remembers your last turn. Use it.
| Previous message | Useful follow-up |
|---|---|
| Analyze TCS and INFY | Find news for these |
| Indian oversold large-caps | Analyze the top 3 |
| Compare HDFCBANK and SBIN | Which is more oversold? |
| Top 10 stocks by volume today | Which has the best ROE? |
Words the agent resolves
these, those, them, they, the top N, the third one, this stock, that one
Doesn't carry context well
- Topic switch mid-session → use New chat
- Very long sessions — older turns may get truncated
- Right after a clarify — the agent waits for your specifics first
What NOT to ask
Polite refusal, not a half-answer. The agent tells you exactly what it couldn't do — no fake numbers, no made-up tickers.
| Class | Example | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Prediction | Will Reliance hit ₹3,000 next month? | Ask 'what's the technical setup?' instead. |
| Guaranteed returns | 5 stocks that will 10× | No tool can promise returns. |
| Personalized advice | Should I sell my whole portfolio? | We don't know your risk / horizon / holdings. |
| Options Greeks / F&O | NIFTY 23000 PE Greeks | Cash-segment equities only. |
| Mutual fund / ETF holdings | What's inside Parag Parikh Flexi Cap? | No MF holdings data. |
| Tick-by-tick India | Live price every second for SBIN | Indian = 2 snapshots/day. |
| Tax computation | How much LTCG do I owe? | We quote the rate, not file taxes. |
Data freshness
So you don't get surprised by the cadence.
Indian stocks (NSE/BSE)
2 EOD snapshots/day via Groww + daily fundamentals (FMP)
Not tick-by-tick. Cards show "as of" timestamp.
US stocks (S&P / NASDAQ / NYSE)
Near-real-time via FMP / yfinance during market hours
EOD outside hours.
Crypto
Continuous via yfinance / FMP
~25 major coins.
News
Live web search at query time
Filtered to financial sources.
Now try a sharper question
Open the chat with a specific ticker, market, and timeframe — see the difference.