=== VideoWhisper Cashtag Links ===
Contributors: videowhisper
Tags: cashtag, stock symbols, investing, financial news, automatic links
Requires at least: 6.5
Requires PHP: 7.4
Tested up to: 7.1
Stable tag: 0.1.0
License: GPLv2 or later
License URI: https://www.gnu.org/licenses/gpl-2.0.html

Automatically link $AAPL-style cashtags to financial research sites. Choose providers, custom destinations, and symbol overrides.

== Description ==

VideoWhisper Cashtag Links turns eligible financial cashtags such as $AAPL and $MSFT in enabled singular content types into direct research links. Select Yahoo Finance, Stocktwits, Finviz, Seeking Alpha, or X search; configure a custom HTTPS destination; add symbol-specific mappings; and optionally let readers choose another enabled destination.

Automatic linking is disabled until an administrator enables it. Original post content is never changed. The plugin does not fetch quotes, maintain a market-data catalog, require an account, or make a background request to a financial provider.

Cashtags are not universal instrument identifiers. The default matcher is deliberately conservative and does not validate a ticker. For mixed technical and investing content, use strict registry-only mode and configure the symbols you cover.

== External services ==

The plugin itself sends no visitor data to an external service. When a visitor clicks an enabled research link, their browser navigates directly to the selected provider. Site owners choose which providers to enable.

* Yahoo Finance: https://finance.yahoo.com/ -- https://legal.yahoo.com/us/en/yahoo/terms/otos/index.html and https://legal.yahoo.com/us/en/yahoo/privacy/index.html
* Stocktwits: https://stocktwits.com/ -- https://stocktwits.com/terms and https://stocktwits.com/privacy
* Finviz: https://finviz.com/ -- https://finviz.com/terms.ashx and https://finviz.com/privacy.ashx
* Seeking Alpha: https://seekingalpha.com/ -- https://seekingalpha.com/page/terms-of-use and https://seekingalpha.com/page/privacy_policy
* X search: https://x.com/ -- https://x.com/tos and https://x.com/privacy

These are third-party research/discussion destinations, not investment advice. Availability, account requirements, regional restrictions, and provider content are controlled by each provider.

== Installation ==

1. Upload the plugin folder to `/wp-content/plugins/` or install its ZIP from Plugins > Add New.
2. Activate VideoWhisper Cashtag Links.
3. Open Settings > Cashtag Links, choose at least one destination, select the content types, and enable automatic linking when ready.

Use `[vw_cashtag symbol="AAPL"]` to add one explicit link. Use `[vw_cashtag_list]` in a post or page to list symbols detected from that article's saved content.

Posts and pages are selected by default. Public custom post types can be selected in Settings > Cashtag Links. Market suffixes such as `$VVSM.DE` and `$IQE.L` are recognized by default. Lower-case cashtags and numeric market symbols such as `$9988.HK` are opt-in matching formats because they have a higher false-positive risk. You can also append the symbol list after eligible article content in the settings.

== Frequently Asked Questions ==

= Are existing posts changed? =

No. Links are added only to rendered content and disappear when the plugin is disabled or removed.

= Does the plugin provide market prices? =

No. It creates direct links only. It does not call a quote API or display market data.

= How do I avoid false positives? =

Use the ignored-symbol list, per-post disable control, `vwcl-ignore` CSS class or `data-vwcl-ignore` attribute, or strict registry-only mode.

= Can I use international shares or crypto? =

Configure an explicit registry mapping or use the shortcode. The automatic matcher intentionally does not guess an exchange, coin ID, or provider symbol.

== Changelog ==

= 0.1.0 =
* Initial link-only release.

