🎨 Palette: Add helpful tooltips to financial parameters

.Jules/palette.md

@@ -0,0 +1,4 @@
+
+## 2026-03-19 - Streamlit Native Tooltips Ensure Readability
+**Learning:** Using the native `help` parameter in Streamlit widgets (like `st.slider`, `st.number_input`) automatically integrates accessible `stTooltipIcon` tooltips cleanly next to the labels. This avoids cluttering the UI with extra markdown/caption text while ensuring critical definitions (like "63 days ≈ 3 months") are available on demand.
+**Action:** Always prefer the `help` parameter for input widgets involving statistical thresholds or specialized financial metrics, providing concrete examples (e.g., "10 bps = 0.10%").

src/dashboard.py

@@ -168,9 +168,30 @@ def get_cache_key(*args) -> str:
             help="Lookback months for Momentum signal."
         )
     else:
-        factor_window = st.slider("Factor Beta Window (days)", 20, 252, 63, 7)
-        vol_window = st.slider("Regime Vol Window (days)", 10, 60, 21, 5)
-        adv_pct = st.slider("ADV Participation %", 0.01, 0.30, float(DEFAULT_ADV_PCT), 0.01)
+        factor_window = st.slider(
+            "Factor Beta Window (days)",
+            20,
+            252,
+            63,
+            7,
+            help="Lookback window for calculating factor betas (e.g., 63 days ≈ 3 months).",
+        )
+        vol_window = st.slider(
+            "Regime Vol Window (days)",
+            10,
+            60,
+            21,
+            5,
+            help="Lookback window for calculating rolling volatility (e.g., 21 days ≈ 1 month).",
+        )
+        adv_pct = st.slider(
+            "ADV Participation %",
+            0.01,
+            0.30,
+            float(DEFAULT_ADV_PCT),
+            0.01,
+            help="Target percentage of Average Daily Volume for trade execution (e.g., 0.10 = 10%).",
+        )
 
     st.markdown("---")
     st.subheader("4. Research Rigor")
@@ -185,19 +206,60 @@ def get_cache_key(*args) -> str:
         st.info("Using full-sample quantiles (exploratory mode)")
 
     vol_q_high = st.slider(
-        "High Volatility Quantile", 0.5, 0.95, DEFAULT_VOL_QUANTILE_HIGH, 0.05
+        "High Volatility Quantile",
+        0.5,
+        0.95,
+        DEFAULT_VOL_QUANTILE_HIGH,
+        0.05,
+        help="Threshold for high volatility regime (e.g., 0.75 = 75th percentile).",
     )
 
     if mode == "Single-Asset":
         st.subheader("5. Backtest Settings")
-        bt_cost = st.number_input("Transaction Cost (bps)", value=DEFAULT_COST_BPS, step=1) / 10000
+        bt_cost = (
+            st.number_input(
+                "Transaction Cost (bps)",
+                value=DEFAULT_COST_BPS,
+                step=1,
+                help="Estimated transaction cost in basis points (e.g., 10 bps = 0.10%).",
+            )
+            / 10000
+        )
         allow_short = st.checkbox("Allow Short Selling?", value=False)
     else:
         st.subheader("5. Alert Thresholds")
-        dd_alert = st.slider("Max Drawdown Alert", -0.6, -0.05, -0.2, 0.05)
-        vol_alert = st.slider("Volatility Alert (ann.)", 0.1, 1.0, 0.35, 0.05)
-        beta_alert = st.slider("Beta Alert", 0.5, 2.0, 1.3, 0.1)
-        dttl_alert = st.slider("Days-to-Liquidate Alert", 1.0, 20.0, 5.0, 1.0)
+        dd_alert = st.slider(
+            "Max Drawdown Alert",
+            -0.6,
+            -0.05,
+            -0.2,
+            0.05,
+            help="Alert when portfolio drawdown exceeds this percentage (e.g., -0.20 = -20%).",
+        )
+        vol_alert = st.slider(
+            "Volatility Alert (ann.)",
+            0.1,
+            1.0,
+            0.35,
+            0.05,
+            help="Alert when annualized volatility exceeds this level (e.g., 0.35 = 35%).",
+        )
+        beta_alert = st.slider(
+            "Beta Alert",
+            0.5,
+            2.0,
+            1.3,
+            0.1,
+            help="Alert when portfolio beta to the benchmark exceeds this level.",
+        )
+        dttl_alert = st.slider(
+            "Days-to-Liquidate Alert",
+            1.0,
+            20.0,
+            5.0,
+            1.0,
+            help="Alert when estimated days to liquidate the portfolio exceeds this value.",
+        )
 
 
 # --- Portfolio Mode ---