Macro is the widest lens in the Quantvesting funnel. It is about the environment around the companies and markets you are studying.
You do not need to become an economist to use it. At a basic level, I would understand economic growth, inflation, interest rates, monetary and fiscal policy, currencies, commodities and major global events. The point is not to predict the next economic number. It is to understand when the backdrop has changed.
Why does that matter? Interest rates can change the way markets value businesses. Inflation can affect costs and demand. Currency moves can matter to companies with large overseas exposure. Commodity prices can help or hurt particular industries. A recession can change what customers spend and how businesses invest.
So macro is mostly context and risk awareness in the Quantvesting framework. I do not expect it to be a daily stock-picking signal. I expect to revisit it when the environment moves enough to make previous assumptions worth questioning.
That distinction matters. If nothing important has changed, there may be little reason to spend the weekend reading twenty macro reports. If rates, inflation, liquidity or a major external event has changed materially, the macro lens becomes much more useful.
The level of knowledge I want is therefore practical. Know what the major forces mean. Know which businesses or industries are exposed to them. Then ask whether the change is important enough to alter your research.
Macro sets the context. It does not make the decision.
That is its place at the top of the Quantvesting funnel.