Support/FAQs

For questions related to your Merkor subscription, account, billing, or access to the Merkor Research platform, please contact us directly. We will help with subscription activation, platform access, account issues, and questions regarding the Merkor research products. For administrative issues related specifically to Substack, including payments processed through Substack, invoices, account credentials, or Substack subscription management, you may also contactSubstack Support. For questions about Merkor Research, the Merkor Index, thematic baskets, research access, or the platform itself, please contact us through the support channel available on Merkor. You do not need to create a separate Merkor account yourself. After subscribing through Substack, simply send us the email address associated with your Substack subscription. We will use that email address to create your Merkor Research account and provide you with access to the platform. Once your account has been created, you will receive the information needed to access Merkor Research. If you have already subscribed but have not yet received access, please contact us with the email address you used for your Substack subscription and we will take care of the rest. No. Your Merkor Research access is linked to your paid Substack subscription, and we create the Merkor account for you. After subscribing, simply provide us with the email address associated with your Substack account. We will create your Merkor account using that address and activate the appropriate access level. If you have already subscribed through Substack but cannot access the Merkor Research platform, please send us the email address associated with your subscription. We will verify your subscription and make sure your Merkor account has been created and activated. You do not need to register again or purchase a second subscription. No. The Substack subscription and Merkor Research are two parts of the same Merkor research service. Substack is used primarily for publishing and distributing Merkor's research and market commentary, while Merkor Research is the dedicated platform where subscribers can access the Merkor Index, thematic baskets, company research, portfolio tools, alerts and scenario analysis. Your paid subscription provides access to the broader Merkor Research service. Once your subscription is confirmed, we create your Merkor platform account using the email address associated with your Substack subscription. A Merkor subscription provides access to the Merkor Research platform and its research universe. This includes the Merkor Index, the thematic baskets, detailed basket and company research, continuously updated portfolio information, intraday alerts for relevant changes, scenario analysis, and tools for creating and comparing your own baskets. Subscribers also receive access to Merkor's market research and commentary published behind the paywall, as well as the ability to interact directly with the research through the platform. The exact features available may evolve as the platform develops. The baskets are actively monitored rather than treated as static model portfolios. Constituents and weights can change when the underlying opportunity, valuation, structural thesis, or risk profile changes. Relevant changes are communicated through the platform, including intraday alerts where applicable. The objective is to maintain a living thematic portfolio rather than a collection of portfolios that are periodically rebalanced on a fixed schedule. The Merkor Index is the core portfolio of the Merkor Research platform. It combines exposure from the thematic baskets into a broader portfolio designed to capture companies positioned around major structural transformations. The Index is not constructed according to conventional market capitalization or geographic classifications. Its allocation reflects the Merkor framework: identifying structural transformations, mapping the infrastructure they require, identifying emerging bottlenecks, and evaluating the companies positioned around those bottlenecks. The Merkor universe currently consists of eleven thematic baskets covering different parts of the structural transformation landscape. You can see themhere. These include AI infrastructure, semiconductors, data center construction, energy infrastructure, nuclear power, critical materials, robotics, defense and aerospace, space infrastructure, the Chinese technology ecosystem, and the convergence of blockchain and AI computing infrastructure. The baskets are complementary rather than mutually exclusive. A company can appear in more than one basket when it plays an important role across multiple structural transformations. Merkor does not treat structural transformations as isolated sectors. The same company can participate in several investment cycles because the infrastructure is interconnected. For example, AI infrastructure requires semiconductors, electricity, data centers, networking, industrial equipment and critical materials. Defense overlaps with space, autonomy, cybersecurity and advanced computing. A company may therefore have exposure to several transformations at the same time. This overlap is intentional and reflects the way real-world supply chains and capital-expenditure cycles interact. The scenario-analysis tool allows subscribers to explore how changes in selected macro or thematic factors could affect the Merkor baskets and the Merkor Index. The tool uses a hybrid factor model to estimate first-order impacts based on historical sensitivities and predefined relationships. Users can move individual sliders or apply preset scenarios and observe the estimated directional effect across the portfolio. The results are directional estimates, not forecasts or predictions. The model is designed as a research and scenario-analysis tool rather than as a guarantee of how markets will behave under a particular scenario. Yes. Merkor allows subscribers to construct their own baskets, modify constituents and weights, and compare their portfolios with the Merkor Index and the Merkor thematic baskets. This functionality is intended to allow subscribers to use the Merkor research universe as an analytical starting point rather than simply following a predefined portfolio. No. Merkor Research provides independent, thematic financial research and analysis. The baskets and the Merkor Index are model portfolios designed to express thematic investment frameworks and are not personalized investment recommendations. Subscribers remain responsible for determining whether, how and when to implement any strategy or portfolio discussed on the platform. Merkor does not take into account an individual's financial circumstances, investment objectives or risk tolerance when constructing the model portfolios. No. Merkor Research is a research and analytical service and does not provide personalized investment advice, portfolio management or individualized recommendations. The research may identify companies, sectors, structural trends, long and short opportunities, risks and potential investment themes, but subscribers must make their own investment decisions or seek advice from an appropriately qualified professional where necessary. The decision to implement any Merkor model portfolio, thematic basket or individual position, and the method used to implement it, is entirely up to the subscriber. Merkor Research does not manage subscriber capital or execute trades on behalf of subscribers. The portfolios are provided as research frameworks that can be used for analysis, monitoring and comparison. If your subscription was purchased through Substack, subscription management, billing and cancellation are generally handled through your Substack account. For detailed instructions, please consultSubstack's reader support guideor contactSubstack Support. If you have cancelled your subscription but continue to experience an access issue on Merkor Research, please contact us so we can check the status of your platform account. Yes. Merkor Research is designed to be accessible through a standard web browser, including on mobile devices. For the best experience when working with detailed research, portfolio comparisons and scenario analysis, however, a desktop or larger-screen device may provide a more convenient interface. Yes. Merkor is designed to be useful both to individual investors interested in thematic research and to professional users looking for a structured framework for monitoring structural transformations and related companies. Institutional and professional users with broader access requirements should contact us directly to discuss institutional access, including potential API access and other platform requirements. If your subscription was purchased through Substack, your payment receipt and billing information are available through your Substack account. For billing-related questions concerning a Substack payment, please contactSubstack Support. If you require documentation related to a Merkor Research account or institutional subscription, please contact us directly. If a subscription payment fails, access may be interrupted depending on the status of the subscription and the payment provider. Please update your payment method through the service where you purchased the subscription. If your payment has been successfully renewed but your Merkor access has not been restored, contact us and we will check the account. Merkor baskets are designed as living research portfolios. Their composition can change when the structural thesis changes, when a company becomes less relevant to the theme, when a bottleneck shifts to another part of the value chain, or when valuation and risk considerations materially alter the attractiveness of an exposure. The objective is not to preserve a fixed list of companies indefinitely, but to maintain exposure to the parts of a structural transformation that Merkor considers most relevant at a given point in time. Merkor is intended to be used as a research and analytical platform. The core process is to start with a structural transformation, understand the infrastructure required for it, identify potential bottlenecks, examine the companies positioned around those bottlenecks, and then evaluate how those exposures fit within a broader portfolio. The Merkor Index and thematic baskets provide one expression of this framework, while the company research, alerts, scenario tools and portfolio-building functionality allow subscribers to conduct their own analysis.