Cup and Handle
↑ Bullish ContinuationRounded base, small dip, breakout higher
Grade any ticker — conviction score, technicals, fundamentals, and a contract grader. 139 curated tickers, refreshed daily.
Read the tape, find the setup, then validate the entry and risk across 139 curated tickers.
Where the next trade comes from — what's hot, what's lining up, what's on the calendar.
Context for the trade — who's holding what, what the tape's been doing, where the macro is.
Grade any ticker top to bottom — then grade the exact contract you're eyeing.
Or jump anywhere with the tab strip above · press ⌘K for the command palette.
An AIi-written market digest, refreshed hourly with each build — the overnight setup at the open, where the tape stands mid-session, and the closing read after 4 pm ET. Ticker chips are clickable. Not financial advice.
Straight headlines for every covered stock plus a dedicated macro lane for Fed, inflation, labor, growth, policy and energy news. Published economic releases include actual, consensus and prior values. Stories are ranked by likely materiality and active tape, with evidence kept separate from market direction.
High impact surfaces hard company events plus major inflation, labor, Fed and policy catalysts. Notable catches analyst actions, launches, restructuring, growth data and fast-moving market context; everything else stays Context. Freshness, source quality and corroboration can move a story up. For articles, the green / red direction chip is read only from the headline wording. For a published economic print it stays Unclear, because hotter, cooler, stronger or weaker data is factual evidence — not a universal bullish or bearish verdict.
Active tape means a related ticker or broad index is moving materially or trading unusually heavy at the same time; it does not prove the headline caused that move. Use it as a verification queue: open the source, confirm the event is new, then check whether price and volume agree. Carried-forward context is labeled, unconfirmed stories are labeled, and exact duplicate links are collapsed without removing distinct coverage of the same event.
Search the universe, rank its strongest directional grades, then separate thesis strength from entry timing. Stocks and ETFs open the full contract grader; market gauges such as VIX open the market-tape view.
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A narrative tells you where to look, not when to enter. Start with the trade posture and its first invalidation check, then confirm the individual ticker in the Grade tab before risking capital. Sector and story cards keep lifecycle, fundamentals-vs-hype, bull/base/bear scenarios, industry grades, and source evidence under expandable detail so the decision state stays visible first.
The cross-asset risk read that sets the engine’s posture — the live market tape, a conditional 5–10-session scenario and sensitivity layer, a frozen premarket leader/laggard follow-through check, the risk-on / risk-off barometer, and daily regime history — plus a grade lookup for any tracked ticker and a checker for a position you already hold.
See the full 4-pillar grade & conviction for any of the tracked tickers — not just today’s top picks.
Already own a call or put? Enter it below and get a hold / trim / sell / wait read — priced live and judged against the full picture: the engine’s current grade, the AI news take, the chart pattern, sector narrative, entry-timing, and the same premium take-profit / stop the track record uses. Tracked tickers only. Not financial advice.
A fixed, auditable grading system. Every tracked name receives a directional asset grade from four pillars (Fundamentals, Technicals, Mechanicals, Narrative) plus a separate IV-cost adjustment. Entry timing is an execution overlay, not part of that grade: a strong thesis can stay strong while the correct action is Wait or Avoid. Names must clear a fixed conviction floor, the thesis-quality review, and the execution gate to become actionable. The list is deliberately allowed to be short, or empty, on a poor day — the engine would rather hold cash than pad it. Each card has a Recommendation ⇄ Grade toggle — flip to Grade to audit every signal behind the score — plus a named entry strategy, a layered exit ladder, and a same-sector peer comparison. The Track record tab marks past picks to market (modeled option P&L).
The grade and execution read. The asset grade is the sum of four pillars, each clamped to ±5, plus a direction-aware IV-cost term (−2…+1). Its thresholds are fixed rather than recomputed from the day’s universe. The separate timing score runs from −8 to +2 and decides whether to Go, Wait for a named trigger, or Avoid.
Fundamentals (10 signals). Earnings surprise (beat/miss >25% ±2, 10-24% ±1), EPS growth YoY +1 / -2, revenue growth YoY +1 / -2, analyst price target ±1, analyst rating changes ±2 (net of recent upgrades vs downgrades over ~90 days), P/E vs sector median ±1, guidance (raised +3, in line +2, lowered -3), major contract / deal +2 / -3 (incl. a bank’s lead-underwriter mandate on a marquee IPO/M&A), free cash flow TTM ±1, net-margin trend ±1. Is the business getting better or worse?
Technicals (11 signals). RSI movement ±1, RSI reading ±3 (contrarian — 75+ overbought -3 / 25 or below oversold +3, the oversold credit only with a reversal bar), MACD ±1, a 3-day-plus streak ±1, confirmed 20/50/100D support-resistance breaks (±1/±1/±2), the 52-week read (within 5% of the high -1 / low +1, contrarian), volume confirmation ±1 (relative volume ≥1.3x +1, <0.8x -1), the moving-average stack as one read (above the majority of the 20/50/100D SMAs +1, below -1), and an AI-read chart pattern (±1 confirmed, 0 while still forming). What is the chart doing?
Mechanicals (8 signals). Unusual options flow ±1, open-interest call/put skew ±1, FINRA short interest ±1 (twice-monthly: crowded squeeze fuel +1 / rising shorts -1 / falling shorts +1, with % float, days-to-cover and prior-cycle change shown), unusual underlying volume ±1, SPY flows ±1 (≥±0.6%), put/call ratio extreme (contrarian: P/C >1.15 fear → +2, <0.65 greed → -2), VIX tracking (rising & >25 = -2, falling from an elevated ≥20 = +1), VIX spot (<15 complacency -1, >35 capitulation +2, contrarian — needs a per-name reversal bar). What are options & the broad market doing?
Narrative (8 signals). AI-read news catalysts (good +2 / bad -3, asymmetric — one sentiment read is noisy so good news is weighted lighter), sector tail/headwind ±2 (faded by lifecycle & hype), social sentiment ±1, media coverage (informational, 0 — not double-counted), macro tail/headwinds +1 / -2, DXY 1-day move (≥0.9%: strong dollar -2 / weak +1), 10-year yield 1-day move (≥13 bps: rising -2 / falling +1). What story is driving it?
Entry timing (execution-only, −8 … +2). Asset quality aside, is now a good moment? One aligned confirmed-daily OHLCV series feeds five component groups: extension/exhaustion, pullback/setup quality, momentum confirmation, event proximity, and structure/payoff. A 25–50% retracement of the prior impulse that holds a real level on drying volume is the preferred setup. MACD turn, RSI recovery and a directional ≥1.3× turn day are treated as one correlated confirmation family, capped at +2. A Go needs a score of at least +2, two independent evidence families, invalidation within 2 ATR, and at least 1.5:1 estimated reward/risk. A lone hot reading is a soft Wait; a hard exhaustion veto needs multiple extremes plus rollover or volume-climax evidence (unless one reading is catastrophic). Falling-knife, hard-event, wrong-side reclaim, unclear-structure and thin-payoff gates cannot be averaged away by the grade or overridden by the final AI review.
How the market tape moves the picks. Macro enters two ways: as direct signals on every name (above), and as a market regime that changes the engine’s whole posture. The regime is a cross-asset gauge — the VIX, the dollar (DXY), long yields, a commodity / war-shock axis (crude + gold), the Fed path, a geopolitical-news read, inflation / jobs, and CNN Fear & Greed — surfaced in the expandable Market tape panel above the list. The fast price axes refresh live while the tab is open (so a shock like an oil spike or a peace-deal vol-crush moves the tape within seconds); the slow news / data axes carry from the last build, and on a recovery the headline regime holds the more defensive read until a fresh build confirms it (no whipsaw).
• The VIX (fear gauge). Rising and above 25 docks -2; falling back from an elevated level adds +1 (vol relief); sub-15 complacency is -1; a spike above 35 (capitulation) flips contrarian-bullish +2, but only once a name’s own chart confirms a turn (no catching the knife).
• Bonds (the 10-year yield). A sharp one-day jump (≥13 bps) docks -2 across the board — rising yields pressure growth and long-duration risk assets; a sharp fall adds +1.
• The dollar (DXY). A ≥0.9% one-day rise is a -2 headwind (a strong dollar squeezes multinationals and risk assets); a fall is +1.
• Regime-conditioned proof. Countertrend calls in risk-off and countertrend puts in risk-on need a reclaim, full momentum confirmation and clean structure. The bar also rises for the crowded side: an already-extended call in strong risk-on, or put in risk-off, needs full confirmation and qualifying payoff. A clean pullback aligned with the tape is not penalized merely because the regime agrees.
Tiers & sizing. Tiers use fixed absolute bars: |grade| ≥7 is Strong, 4–6 is Call/Put, and below 4 is No Trade. Clearing the grade bar does not guarantee an actionable pick — thesis quality and the execution gate still bind, so the list can remain short or empty. Size is risk-based, not flat: each pick is weighted inverse to the premium it would lose to its stop, tilted by conviction, and the book’s overall gross is trimmed when the recent realized track record is negative.
Suggested contract. A near-the-money option — delta 0.45-0.65 (target ~0.55), which carries far less theta and IV-crush fragility than a cheap far-OTM lottery ticket — with IV <200%, ≥14 days to expiry (roster picks ≥21), standard monthly expirations, a tight spread, real open interest, and premium capped at the greater of $35/share or 12% of spot. The “In plain English” panel translates the bet into beginner terms.
Entry & exit plan. Each pick matches one of six named strategies (Pullback to Confluence, Breakout + Retest, Moving-Average Pullback, Support + Confirmation, RSI + Divergence, Volume Breakout) with scale-in tranches at confluence prices, and a layered exit ladder — meaningful levels above and below spot, each with an action and its reasoning. The hard stop is volatility-aware (a multiple of ATR, so ordinary noise doesn’t shake the trade out), and the track record additionally cuts in premium terms (a fixed % loss of the option), since a symmetric move on the stock is a very asymmetric move on the contract. Triggers also cover earnings-in-window IV-crush risk and stretched RSI. There is no time stop and no pre-earnings exit: a trade is held — through earnings prints included — for as long as its original thesis stays intact and the contract hasn’t expired.
How to read it — and what it isn’t. Because the grade is relative, it ranks names against each other; it does not promise an absolute edge. The engine is candidly research / unproven — its directional signal has not yet shown a validated edge on forward data, and the track record’s option P&L is modeled (there is no live options-price feed). Buying a call or put risks the entire premium. None of this is financial advice; treat the picks as a starting watchlist, not a recommendation to trade.
Picks rebuild from scratch on every refresh. Each actionable pick clears the conviction ranking, an absolute quality floor and a confirmed buy-now entry (never an extended/overbought chase), and has a tradeable near-the-money contract that fits the suggested-contract criteria above. The list can be short, or empty, on a poor day.
Share ideas, not option contracts — the Top Picks tab times leveraged trades; this page runs one buy-the-dip playbook over the same ~138-name universe, built on three separate questions answered independently (never blended into one number). 1 · Is it a good business? A hard quality gate: consistently profitable (positive net margin or free cash flow), a manageable debt load (more cash than debt, or debt/equity ≤ 2x), net margins holding vs a year ago, and revenue still growing on a trailing-twelve-month view. Names that fail are never shown, however far they’ve fallen — that’s how value traps get in. 2 · Is it beaten down right now? Five reads of “cheap vs its own recent self”: RSI(14) under 35, 4%+ below the 50-day average, 15%+ off the 52-week high, stretched −2σ against its 20-day mean (≈ the lower Bollinger band), and lagging SPY by 4+ points over ten sessions (company-specific selling, not a market-wide selloff). Each read is z-scored across the quality-passed universe and averaged into the card’s dip score, so the page surfaces the most unloved names relative to each other rather than leaning on fragile fixed thresholds; a name needs at least two reads fired to list at all. 3 · Is it down because something actually broke? Yellow trap flags — a fresh earnings print inside the drop, heavy-volume selling, a long red streak, analysts cutting estimates, a bearish news tone, or a binary event just ahead. Flags never block a candidate; they ride the card so the final call stays with you. The execution read then separates Start small (clean dip plus a positive close and improving RSI), Wait for turn (clean but still deteriorating), and Research first (one or more trap flags). Every card names the current entry or confirmation trigger, the nearest structural level that forces a thesis review, the first mean-reversion objective, and the reference payoff between them. The review level is not an automatic stop — long-horizon owners must re-underwrite the business there. Every card also carries an expandable investment thesis checklist — the full owner’s due-diligence list (management & moat, financial health & cash flow, unit economics, valuation & growth, macro sensitivity, risks & scenarios) with each question answered from the tracked data where possible and honestly labeled unsure (a heuristic or proxy read) or unanswered (not visible in our data) where it isn’t. Fully deterministic, refreshed with each hourly build, and honest — a tape with no quality name on sale shows nothing. Not financial advice.
This tab is a long-only peer-washout rebound screen — not a sector-ETF allocation model, the Market Tape offense/defense gauge, or the Heatmap breadth alert. It looks for strong companies sold alongside their sector, not names falling because the business broke, then asks whether that statistical dislocation is actually reverting. Fundamentals and the quality gate decide whether a company belongs on the desk at all; peer participation tests whether the drawdown was shared; and company news, fresh earnings and estimate cuts guard against calling an idiosyncratic problem “rotation.” For each surviving stock the model freezes its pre-drop trend mean and robust standard deviation at the episode peak, requires the trough close to reach at least −1.5σ, then measures the current z-score, percentage of the move already reverted and remaining runway to that mean. The mean cannot drift down toward price after the selloff. Washed out means extreme but unproven, first thrust means the turn has started but still waits for a pullback, confirmed requires group and stock follow-through with statistical runway left, and late means the mean-reversion edge is mostly spent or price is extended. The execution plan uses the earlier of the frozen mean and structural resistance as its first target, while invalidation stays below the actual trough; no z-score can override a failed quality or news guard. The accountability ledger observes a setup from first appearance but records an official model entry only when the first baked ready signal is confirmed by a recent regular-session quote still inside its zone; post-close setups wait for the next live session. It then freezes that entry, stop and target so later results cannot be rewritten with hindsight. All levels stay on the underlying stock and refresh with each bake. Live quotes update price and sizing between bakes, not the baked statistical classification. σ is context, not a probability or a promise that price must revert. Not financial advice.
Start with Enter now versus Wait, then read the card’s underlying entry, invalidation and first target before looking at the leveraged ticker. The risk planner converts your account-level loss cap and the card’s estimated ETF stop width into a maximum share count once the live quote arrives. Levels are deterministic and live on the underlying; the ETF percentages are only a same-day leverage translation, so gaps, daily resets, spreads and tracking error can make the actual exit worse. The screen maps the grade engine’s trend / flow / fundamentals / narrative read onto verified listed products, requires breadth for sector trades, strips the options-only IV-cost pillar, and never invents a missing vehicle. Reset drag, carry, earnings risk, tape alignment and the simulated path remain on every card because a good direction with a bad vehicle or hold period is still a bad trade. Short-horizon trading tools only; not financial advice.
Every Top Pick shipped each refresh is logged and marked to market against each pick’s own take-profit / cut levels. Use the tabs below to switch between the plain-English engine summary, the scorecard, the live Top 10 roster, the activity logs, and the open / resolved picks. Each view opens with an At a glance strip — its key numbers and a one-line takeaway — with the full detail below.
A pick resolves when the underlying reaches its take-profit (win), hits its cut (loss), breaks its thesis (the live grade flips to the opposite side, the stop level is breached, or every supporting driver goes quiet), or expires (graded vs. breakeven). There is no time stop, no pre-earnings exit, and no weekly force-close — a position is held, through earnings prints included, for as long as its original thesis stays intact and the contract has time left. The Summary tab is the rules-based engine report: an overall health verdict, why the losers lost (direction miss vs. theta bleed), why the winners won, which segments are working vs. lagging, and a specific "what to fix next" list — all computed from the resolved record, no AI. The win rate by tier asks whether higher-conviction scores actually win more. Top 10 — picks in & out shows the current 10-name roster, what changed in the 4 pillars since the last refresh, what dropped out and what replaced it, and a rules-based upgrade/downgrade read on each name (click a row for the full rubric); Recent crossings is the chronological log of names crossing the conviction bar on or off the actionable set; Grade changes logs every ticker whose grade moves up or down (and why); each pick’s Day 0 / 2wk / 1mo checkpoints show whether the price moved the way the score predicted. The Equity, Breakdowns, Simulator, and Monte Carlo tabs add a modeled-dollar profitability lens — an equity curve + drawdown, per-DTE / PoP / thesis / conviction tables and cross-tabs, a hypothetical $100k risk-managed book, and a bootstrap of the outcome distribution. The Market-sized lens and Market environment simulator mode use the daily Market Analysis history: defensive sizing is $5k instead of $10k, full size returns after 3 consecutive risk-on sessions, and 2 consecutive risk-off sessions cut it back in half; neutral stays defensive. Build cadence (~3 checks/day), not intraday.
No Top-10 roster snapshot yet — it appears after the next daily refresh.
No grade changes or conviction-bar crossings logged yet.
No open or resolved picks yet.
Track record is informational, not a performance claim: it follows the underlying stock against each pick’s own take-profit / cut levels, not the realised option P&L, and samples only at build time. The $ profitability, equity curve, Simulator, and Monte Carlo views are modeled and hypothetical — Black-Scholes marks on a notional book, not realised fills. Not financial advice.
Read the tape at a glance: tile size shows market cap and color shows the session move. Find a ticker, switch to relative volume, or tap any tile to open its Grade.
Deeper green and red mark larger session moves. In Relative volume mode, saturation shows current cumulative volume versus the fraction of a normal 20-day session expected by that clock time, using the same U-shaped intraday pace curve as the Volume desk. That keeps the morning comparable with the close instead of labeling every incomplete session quiet. Pre-market keeps the last completed-session read rather than treating prior-session volume as live. Hue still shows direction. Group by sector or industry, press Enter after searching to center the first match, and use the zoom controls or wheel/pinch to inspect the small-cap tail.
The Sector breadth streak flags a group only after at least 70% of its tracked names have closed in the same direction for two or more consecutive sessions. That proves participation is broad and persistent; it does not measure ETF inflows/outflows, relative strength versus SPY, or the premium Sector Rotation desk’s quality-washout rebound setup. Use a green streak as a leadership candidate and a red streak as a group-risk flag, then confirm with relative performance and volume. Not financial advice.
A month-at-a-time view of every dated market event, opening on the current month — use ‹ / › to step between months (or Today to jump back), and tap any day to see its full details below the grid. It tracks: confirmed earnings dates (with AM/PM session tagging) for every curated ticker, ticker-specific catalysts (FDA dates, contract decisions, product launches, court rulings, investor days — extracted from recent news), structured economic-report releases (NFP, Unemployment, JOLTS, CPI, PPI) with Actual / Previous / Consensus values, upcoming FOMC meetings, the current effective Fed Funds rate plus CME FedWatch hike/hold/cut probabilities at four lookbacks, and an official meeting-by-meeting rate-vote map showing hawks, aligned voters, doves, and member stance changes. Ticker chips are clickable.
Start with the Event posture, which translates the current season into exposure risk: how many tracked names report next, how many already carry a double-digit pre-print move, whether positive reaction breadth is holding, and whether realized gaps are exceeding what options priced. The Event desk pairs each report session with its decision deadline and the straddle-implied move when a real final-week snapshot exists; it is a gap-risk screen, not a directional call. A crowded run-up can raise sell-the-news risk; a heavy selloff can mean either washed-out positioning or expectations that are still deteriorating. Neither label is an automatic fade. Use the report session to decide whether a position carries overnight event risk, then define the maximum loss before holding through it.
Below that, each season groups prints announced in one calendar quarter (Jan–Mar reports cover fiscal Q4, Apr–Jun cover Q1, and so on). The scoreboard separates EPS results, guidance, pre-print drift, the first regular-session reaction, the options market’s expected move and one-week follow-through. The implied move is the straddle-implied ±% snapshotted in the final week before a print; it estimates magnitude, not direction. Guidance and implied-move coverage accumulate going forward, so older seasons can be incomplete.
Coverage is the curated tracked-ticker universe, not the full market; implied-move and guidance columns accumulate from live snapshots, so older quarters can show “—”. Not financial advice.
Start with the decision queue: it prioritizes explicit outlook changes, misses, management caution and disputed Q&A instead of asking you to scan every transcript equally. Open a company to separate what changed from what must be watched next, then use the research disclosures for the reported numbers, full guidance table, management wording, analyst questions, operating detail and source transcript. A constructive call is not an entry signal and a cautious call is not automatically a short — confirm the Grade view, price reaction and valuation before acting. Every brief is AI-generated from the full transcript and can contain errors.
Summaries are AI-generated from third-party transcripts and can contain errors — always verify against the linked transcript. Not financial advice.
When a company reports earnings, its same-sector peers move too — this matrix measures that read-through across the whole tracked universe, grouped into sector complexes (semis & memory, software, banks, payments, consumer, healthcare, space, …), each with its sector ETF. For every driver→follower pair inside a group it estimates the event-window beta (how much of the driver's print-day move the follower echoes, Newey-West significance, shrunk toward the pooled sector beta on small samples), the direction hit rate, and whether the follower's options already price the echo (its ATM implied move vs its realized average). Pairs must clear fixed statistical gates (R², significance after a false-discovery correction run across every sector's pairs, ≥60% direction consistency) to count as qualified. Upcoming driver events show both engines' expected follower moves — sector-routed (via the ETF) and direct-pair — with the running forward accuracy of each. This is a correlation map, not a trade signal: nothing here is a recommendation to buy or sell anything.
Event betas re-estimate once per trading day; event depth accumulates from the earnings-history store. Sector prints cluster (bank mornings especially), so many windows carry shared-print/CPI-week flags — shown, not hidden. Names with no same-sector peer tracked are listed rather than dropped. Analytical only. Not financial advice.
Statistical screens quants actually run, over the same data the rest of the site already collects. Regime conditioning — every build first classifies the tape on four axes (volatility: VIX + term structure + SPY realized vol; trend vs range: SPY efficiency ratio + higher-highs/lower-lows; risk-on/off: the Market Analysis tape; earnings-heavy vs quiet: share of the universe reporting inside ~2 weeks). The single-name sigma screen keeps a fixed 3σ bar in every regime; VRP “rich” needs a bigger z when high vol makes fat premium normal, pair-spread “stretched” widens in high vol and tightens in calm tape, and term-structure inversions are down-weighted through earnings-heavy stretches. Rows are never hidden by regime — only badged and re-ordered — and the strip at the top shows the bars in force. Aggregate ideas — a confluence table cross-referencing four independent flow screens the site already runs (the session’s largest unusual-options prints, the top intraday volume / S–R-break flags, fresh ≤3-session price streaks, and 5-day rising / surging IV): a name showing on two-plus screens ships as a candidate, three-plus is badged qualified, and a lean is reported only when the directional screens agree. Sigma deviations — names at or past their 3σ Bollinger band (20-day price z-score) or printing a 3σ daily move vs their own trailing volatility, with the option market’s expected move (1σ/2σ = S × IV × √(days/365)) beside the realized one. Vol risk premium — each name’s ATM ~30-day implied vol minus its 30-day realized vol, z-scored against the name’s own derived history: persistently positive is the premium option sellers harvest; an extreme z flags premium unusually rich (or cheap) vs that name’s norm. Pairs — within-industry pairs whose daily returns correlate ≥0.60, watched on two spreads: the hedged price spread lnA − β·lnB, with β from a one-year Engle-Granger regression whose residual ADF test (vs the MacKinnon 5% bar) supplies a cointegrated badge — read on both a 60-day and a ~1-year horizon (some pairs only mean-revert on one), with a rolling hedge-ratio drift check, a corr-stability-across-lookbacks badge, and a factor match grade (SPY-beta / size / momentum gaps + a liquidity floor) — and the implied-vol spread vs its 120-day norm (relative options mispricing between peers). Vol surface — term-structure slope (~90d vs ~30d ATM; inverted = near-term stress, badged when the name’s own print is inside ~5 weeks — event vol loading the front is expected) and 25Δ put−call skew per name; their z-scores activate automatically once enough surface history accumulates. Dispersion — an implied-correlation proxy from SPY’s IV vs the cap-weighted basket of tracked large-caps: high = index options rich relative to single names. Post-earnings drift — names inside two weeks of a print, their reaction and drift so far, against their own historical beat/miss drift tendency. Everything is deterministic — fixed formulas, documented windows and threshold tables, no AI and no cross-sectional curve-fitting.
| Situation | What quants typically do | Why it works (and when it doesn't) |
|---|---|---|
| Price z ≥ +3σ (overbought) | Mean-reversion fade / sell call premium | Statistically stretched; fades work best range-bound — and fail in strong trends |
| Price z ≤ −3σ (oversold) | Mean-reversion long / sell put premium | Same logic inverted; falling knives trend too |
| Pair spread z ≥ ±2σ | Long the cheap leg, short the rich leg | Classic stat-arb entry — only if the spread actually mean-reverts (see the cointegration + half-life badges) |
| Regime shifts (calm→crisis, range→trend) | Re-check the tape before trusting a fade | Even a 3σ deviation can keep stretching in a strong trend; the strip at the top shows the current regime |
| Fresh 3σ daily move, IV still low | Buy volatility (straddles/strangles) | Realized-vol spikes often lead IV expansion |
| Inside 1σ expected move, IV rich | Sell premium outside the 3σ band | High theoretical win rate — with severe tail risk when it breaks |
| Position sizing | Size so a 3σ adverse move risks ~0.5–1% of capital | Volatility-aware sizing; stops beyond 3σ of recent range avoid noise shakeouts |
Not feasible with current data (listed honestly rather than faked): M&A / spin-off screens (no deal data source), index add/delete prediction (no committee or flow data), gamma-scalping simulation (needs intraday delta-hedging data), Johansen / multi-year cointegration (the price history carries ~1 year of bars, so the Engle-Granger test runs on a single 1-year window and is labeled as such; Johansen adds nothing for 2-asset pairs), stock-borrow availability / borrow-fee screens (no borrow data source), and alt-data earnings nowcasts (no satellite / card-spend / web-traffic feeds). Already covered elsewhere: earnings read-through pair betas live in Event spillover, season-wide earnings stats in Earnings tracker, IV momentum in Trending IV, and the quality-dip shares screen in Stock Picks — this tab links to them instead of duplicating them.
All screens are deterministic and rebuilt every bake; z-scores use each name's own history, never a cross-sectional curve. Surface z-scores and the dispersion percentile activate automatically once ~60 sessions of history accumulate. Analytical screens only — nothing here is a recommendation to buy or sell anything. Not financial advice.
Use this as a cross-asset participation record, not just a red/green diary. The six risk sleeves — SPY, QQQ, IWM, SMH, DIA and VXUS — show whether equity strength is broad or concentrated; TLT and GLD add rate and defensive context; VIX confirms calm or stress. Start with the month tape read, then click a trading day to compare all nine instruments. Green means an up day for every instrument except VIX, where green means volatility eased and red means stress rose. The displayed percentage always remains the true close-to-close move. Today updates through the session and finalizes at the 4 pm ET close. Not financial advice.
Cross-market lead-lag signals. Asian cash markets and FX trade and close before the US opens, so an overnight move in a foreign peer is a leading read on its US counterpart — Samsung & SK Hynix selling off in Seoul flags memory names like MU; a yen-carry unwind in Tokyo flags broad US risk. Beyond tech, commodities and rates drive their own sectors: crude (energy & fuel-heavy logistics), copper (industrials), gold/silver vs the dollar (metals), nat gas (power), long yields (banks, homebuilders, TLT) and bitcoin (crypto-levered names). Each tile shows a symbol’s move — the completed-session change for Asian cash markets, or the live overnight gap vs the prior settle for the 24h instruments (futures, FX, commodities, crypto) and the cash vol/yield indices — its current level, and the US tickers it leads (click a tag to grade it). Markets that close before the US open are genuine leading reads; concurrent (Europe, cash VIX/yields) and 24h tiles are tagged as co-movement, not a lead. Captured at build time — the 9:30 ET build is the first to see the just-closed Asian session.
Correlation (r) and sensitivity (β) are computed from up to 150 trading days of daily-return overlap (sample size n is shown — faint / asterisked low-n fits are noisier); β × the peer’s move is a rough implied read, not a forecast. Yield moves are shown in basis points. Foreign closes can lag the US session by up to a day. Not financial advice.
Discovery stays broad: 5–50% OTM contracts that picked up at least 2,000 contracts of volume this hour (4,000 if expiring within 2 weeks) with vol > OI remain visible as block/sweep candidates. The decision queue is stricter: it credits only ask/above-ask execution, requires material premium (normally $100k, or $50k when repeated, or $25k when aggressive demand spans multiple strikes), rejects quoted spreads wider than 35% of midpoint, and demands extra support for far-OTM or penny contracts. Midpoint prints remain evidence but are not called directional, and an old or closed-session scan is never called executable. Each chip shows volume-to-OI and hourly premium; 🔥 ×N marks repeats over five trading days. FINRA ATS volume is shown as a secondary, delayed context signal with dark-pool share of matching weekly consolidated volume and week-over-week change; it never changes the live flow direction or actionability call. Flow is a watchlist input, not an entry: calls can be sold, puts can be hedges, and every read still needs confirmation from the underlying price, volume, and structure. Hourly scan, front 2 expirations.
Search for a stock, then select a session. Every completed day is compared with the prior 20-session average: green marks above-average participation and blue marks below-average participation. The detail card cross-checks SPY, QQQ, IWM and SMH to show whether the stock led or lagged the tape.
The comparison uses the prior 20 completed sessions, excluding the day being judged, so a volume shock cannot inflate its own baseline. Every eligible session is marked above or below average; stronger deviations at ≥1.30× or ≤0.70× receive extra emphasis. An in-progress session shows its shares traded but is not classified against a full-day average.
Leader / laggard compares the stock’s close-to-close move with the median move of the available SPY, QQQ and IWM benchmarks. A gap of at least 0.50 percentage points is leadership; minus 0.50 points is lagging; smaller gaps are in line. Same-day reputable headlines are shown as a likely catalyst, never asserted as proven cause. If the tracked feed has no dated headline, the summary stays honest and describes only the observable price, volume and index context. Not financial advice.
Hourly volume is compared with the U-shaped 25/14/11/11/14/25% intraday distribution. ≥1.2× expected pace is a participation watch; ≥1.5× is the stronger action threshold. The required price move adapts to each ticker's ATR (roughly half an ATR, bounded at 0.6–2.0%) so a quiet utility and a volatile semiconductor are not judged by the same fixed move. At/after 16:00 ET, full-day volume ≥1.3× the 20D average flags as EOD. Support/resistance uses the prior completed sessions only plus an ATR-scaled crossing buffer; Strong Alert requires ≥1.5×, Watch is 0.8–1.5×, and <0.8× is Likely Fakeout.
Each row reads Vol actual / expected · ratio — shares traded in that bucket vs. the bucket's share of the 20-day average, and the multiple between them. The trailing % is the price change across the bucket. A flag leans bullish when price is up on heavy volume (real demand) and bearish when price is down on heavy volume (real selling pressure).
Each card also carries a follow-the-case verdict — whether the volume evidence says to follow the bull or bear case (heavy volume confirmed the move), wait for confirmation (heavy participation but no decisive direction yet), or not follow it (a weak move or a likely fakeout, prone to fading). Expand a ticker to read the verdict's reasoning in full.
The build's current ★ Top Picks are pinned in their own group at the top so you can track flow on just those names; the rest are grouped by sector and collapsed by default — click a sector header to open it, then a ticker to expand its hour-by-hour breakdown with the reasoning. Each row's one-line summary shows its strongest flag, bullish/bearish lean, peak hour ratio, and EOD move, and a six-bar intraday volume profile — one bar per session hour (open → close), taller where volume ran hotter and tinted green/red by that hour's price direction — so you can see when the heavy tape hit (the open, midday, or into the close) without expanding. Group by sector and Expand all toggle the layout.
This is an open-interest-based GEX proxy per strike and expiration: Γ × OI × 100 × spot² × 1%, with Black-Scholes gamma computed from each contract's implied vol. The display applies the conventional call-positive / put-negative convention, so a cell is call GEX minus put GEX. That convention is useful for locating concentrations, walls, and a model-implied flip, but open interest does not reveal whether dealers are actually long or short each contract. The sign is therefore a scenario proxy, not observed dealer inventory.
Rows are strikes centered on spot; columns are expirations, near-term first, and Net Σ proxy sums the shown expirations. The largest call- and put-side concentrations form the call wall (CW) and put wall (PW). A positive proxy carries a stabilizing/pinning bias under the conventional sign assumption; a negative proxy carries an amplifying bias. Confirm those scenarios with actual price and share volume rather than treating the sign as fact. OI is end-of-session data published the next morning; only spot refreshes intraday.
Start with the positioning desk: it identifies the strongest current squeeze candidate, distinguishes a 4–5/5 setup from a watch-only concentration, and states the price/flow evidence that must confirm or invalidate it. The ladder shows the top 12 highest-OI strikes across this week's and next week's expirations. The Gamma Squeeze Score (0–5) awards heavy calls within 10% of spot · C/P ratio ≥ 2:1 · call-wall Vol/OI ≥ 1.5× · an overhead call wall within 7.5% · material ask-side call flow aligned to that wall's strike and expiration. FINRA short interest (% float, days-to-cover, and change vs prior cycle) appears beside the setup as secondary squeeze fuel but does not alter the five-point gamma score. A score of 4–5 is a potential setup, not an entry. Strikes with OI > 1000 get a chip; ΔOI chips fire at +30% and +100%. OI and short interest are lagged: price must still break and hold the wall with live share volume. Twice-daily OI scan; twice-monthly FINRA short interest.
Choose a ticker, check whether the entry is ready, then grade the exact call or put. The setup and contract both regrade as fresh quotes arrive.
Indicators are computed at build time from ~1 year of Yahoo daily closes. Use them as context for your option strike pick — they describe the stock, not the contract itself.
Pick a call or put, then dial in expiry and strike — the verdict regrades as you go. Or paste one straight from your broker in the card below.
Verdict + bullets are AI-generated from Yahoo's last-reported fundamentals and earnings. For information only — cross-check before trading.
Term structure plots ATM (call/put average) IV for every expiration in the chain — rising left-to-right is contango, falling is backwardation. IV rank is today's nearest-30d ATM IV as a percentile of the prior ~18 months of daily snapshots; needs 60+ days of history before a rank is shown.
The verdict you see has two halves working together — a YES / NO buy panel that walks every signal we have, and a short mechanical verdict chip that grades just the contract structure (spread / delta / theta). The panel is the one to read carefully; the chip is a quick mechanical read.
This is the one that aims at profitable trades. It collects every reason in play — not just the first one to break — and lays them out so you can weigh the full picture:
Confidence rates how decisive the call is: Strong (aligned score ≥+3 or two-plus hard fails), Moderate (aligned score ≥+2), Tentative (clean mechanics, no opposing signals, but no positive conviction either). Take Tentative YES as a green light to consider, not to size in heavy.
A quick read of just spread + delta + theta:
A clear news tailwind or headwind can nudge an Acceptable verdict to Good or Poor based on the AI-summarized headline sentimenti (but only when no hard fails are in play).
Today’s daily volume vs the trailing 20-day average, paired with today’s 1-day price move, sorts the print into one of four buckets:
All thresholds are simple heuristics, not optimal strategies.
Paste numbers straight off Robinhood, Schwab, etc. — we strip $, %, commas, and size suffixes. IV / OI / volume are optional; without IV the Greeks are skipped.
Put 2–4 companies side by side. The price overlay rebases every name to 0% on the first shared close, making relative strength easy to compare across 1 month to 1 year; the table then lines up valuation (P/E, PEG, P/S), growth, margins, the analyst read and our 4-pillar grade. Reads the same free data as the Grade tab.
Daily closes, rebased to 0% on the first shared session.
Choose a ticker and the desk will match its directional tape, volatility regime and event risk to a defined-risk starting structure. You can then edit every leg, price your actual fill, and inspect the expiration payoff.
Pick the market view first. After you choose a ticker, the desk will load a defined-risk starting structure and test it against tape, volatility, events, liquidity and payoff.
Choose a view, then search any ticker above.
No auto-trade: this only builds the first draft. The live verdict, invalidation, event window, liquidity and reward-to-risk checks decide whether it is actionable.
Templates use the nearest expiration and strikes around spot. Treat them as a starting structure, then verify liquidity and edit the legs to match your actual entry.
Payoff is plotted at the nearest leg's expiration. For calendar spreads the far leg is repriced with Black-Scholes at that instant using its chain IV. Max gain / loss is labelled "unlimited" when a naked leg leaves one side open.
Each leg prices off the live chain mid. Type a Price to use your own fill; cost, breakeven and P/L then update from that entry.
Each name's constant-maturity ATM ~30-day IV is interpolated between surrounding expirations in total-variance space, which reduces false jumps when the nearest contract rolls. The current read is compared with that name's own daily history using both classical and median/MAD z-scores; the more conservative agreeing magnitude is used, plus percentile, a 5-session ramp, lighter 20-session context, and a short rising streak. Tiers require both statistical elevation and a real percentage expansion in premium. Histories under 60 comparable sessions are labeled provisional and must clear stricter score and z bars. Rising IV says magnitude, not direction, and overlapping momentum inputs are deliberately down-weighted so one climb is not counted three times. Names already rich but no longer climbing remain marked Elevated.
IV history accumulates one sample per trading day; names with under a month of samples are excluded. Elevated IV is a read on expected move size, not direction. Not financial advice.
Daily moves first pass an adaptive noise floor based on the ticker's own recent median absolute move (bounded at 0.08–0.35%), so microscopic closes do not create streaks. Counter-day and cumulative-tolerance break bars also scale with that volatility, within conservative bounds. A same-direction close partially heals the tolerance bank and one counter day rather than erasing all prior damage. The displayed streak count is the number of same-direction days; when tolerated counter/flat days occur, the sparkline may span a longer session window. Cumulative return is compounded, not summed. “Just snapped” only includes a material prior run (3+ same-direction days plus length or move significance) with a meaningful reversal, which keeps ordinary two-day noise out of the mean-reversion queue.
A 0–100 sentiment gauge built by CNN from seven equally-weighted indicators of US equity-market psychology. Low readings (extreme fear) have historically preceded rebounds; high readings (extreme greed) often mark overheated conditions. Refreshed each build from cnn.com/markets/fear-and-greed.
This is a deterministic cross-asset read, not a claim of causation. A catalyst that points against the observed move is shown as conflict, not confirmation.
Yields and DXY come from the latest build, with a best-effort live overlay. On an FOMC decision day the open tab refreshes the rates monitor every five minutes so the meeting-day move stays current. Tiles show the 1-day move (basis points for yields, % for DXY), movement band, and 5-day trend. A chip marks DXY ±0.6% or the 10Y ±10 bps on a daily close.
CPI and unemployment are monthly BLS prints, not live quotes. The unemployment tile’s Sahm read compares the 3-month average with its prior-year low; ≥0.5pp is the classic recession-onset threshold.
Reference bands for sizing a daily change. Small moves are normal noise; larger moves deserve a catalyst and volume check before treating them as regime information.
| Asset | Normal | Notable | Big | Very large |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| DXY | 0.2–0.4% | 0.5% | 0.7–1.0% | >1.0% |
| 10Y yield | < 8 bps | 8–10 bps | 10–15 bps | 15+ bps |
| 2Y yield | < 8 bps | 8–12 bps | 12–20 bps | 20+ bps |
| 30Y yield | < 8 bps | 8–10 bps | 10–15 bps | 15+ bps |
Weekly context. DXY moves of 0.5–1.0% are meaningful and 1.5%+ is a strong trend signal. For the 10Y, 20–30 bps is significant and 40+ bps signals a clear regime shift.
A primer on how Treasury yields and the US Dollar Index (DXY) shape stock-market behavior. US Treasuries are debt securities issued by the US government and are considered among the safest financial assets in the world. They influence borrowing costs globally, impact stock-market valuations, affect mortgage and loan rates, drive risk-on / risk-off behavior, and shape the strength of the US dollar.
| Type | Maturity | Interest payment |
|---|---|---|
| T-Bills | 4 weeks to 1 year | No coupon. Sold at discount, mature at face value. |
| T-Notes | 2 to 10 years | Semiannual interest payments. |
| T-Bonds | 20 to 30 years | Semiannual interest payments. |
Most sensitive to current Federal Reserve policy. Reacts quickly to Fed rate hikes or cuts, reflects short-term interest-rate expectations, and is closely tied to monetary policy.
Higher 2-year yields generally tighten financial conditions, hurt growth stocks and speculative assets, and make bonds more attractive relative to equities. Example: if the 2-year yields 5%, investors may prefer a guaranteed return over taking stock-market risk.
The benchmark yield and arguably the most important Treasury rate. Influences 30-year mortgage rates, corporate borrowing costs, stock valuations, consumer loans, and the discount rate used for equities.
Higher 10-year yields pressure stock valuations, increase borrowing costs, reduce future-earnings valuations, and tighten credit conditions.
Lower 10-year yields support growth stocks, encourage borrowing and investing, and improve liquidity conditions.
A gauge for long-term inflation expectations and fiscal sustainability. Sensitive to government deficits, long-term inflation expectations, pension and insurance demand, and global risk sentiment.
Higher 30-year yields can signal inflation concerns, fiscal stress, or weak demand for long-duration bonds.
Higher Treasury yields make bonds more attractive relative to stocks. As yields rise, investors may move from stocks into bonds, borrowing becomes more expensive, corporate investment slows, credit conditions tighten, and interest on new loans increases.
Risk assets often struggle when Treasury yields rise rapidly, when the Federal Reserve hikes interest rates, or when liquidity conditions tighten.
The US Dollar Index (DXY) measures the strength of the US dollar relative to a basket of foreign currencies. Dollar strength has major effects on corporate earnings, commodity prices, emerging markets, global liquidity, and risk appetite.
Multinational earnings take a hit. Approximately 40% of S&P 500 revenue comes from overseas. A stronger dollar means foreign earnings convert into fewer US dollars, and reported earnings decline.
US exports become more expensive. American goods become less competitive globally — a headwind for exporters, industrial companies, and manufacturing sectors.
Commodities often fall. Commodities are priced in USD, so a stronger dollar typically pressures energy, materials, agriculture, and metals.
Emerging markets suffer. Borrowing in USD becomes more expensive — capital outflows, higher debt stress, and weakening foreign currencies follow.
Higher yields often accompany a stronger dollar. The combination makes risk assets less attractive.
Good for stocks. Supports earnings growth, global liquidity, and risk appetite.
Boosts multinational earnings. Foreign earnings convert into more US dollars — positive for large multinationals, technology companies, and global consumer brands.
US exports become cheaper. American goods become more competitive internationally.
Commodities often rise. A weaker dollar is a major tailwind for gold, industrials, materials, and energy.
Emerging markets & international stocks perform better. Foreign assets become worth more in USD terms — supportive for international equities, EM, and foreign currencies.
Easier global financial conditions. Encourages risk-on behavior across markets.
The relationship is not always perfectly inverse.
Strong growth periods. Sometimes stocks and the dollar rise together — this can occur during strong US economic growth.
Risk-off environments. Typically the dollar rises while stocks fall — investors seek safety in USD assets.
Gold is priced in USD. A stronger dollar makes gold more expensive for foreign buyers and less attractive globally.
Gold pays no yield. A stronger dollar often comes with higher interest rates and higher Treasury yields, which increases the opportunity cost of holding gold.
The dollar competes with gold as a safe haven. When investors seek safety, capital can flow into either USD or gold — a strengthening dollar often pressures gold prices.
Weak dollar — generally bullish for stocks, bullish for commodities, supportive of risk assets. Weak dollar + falling yields often supports strong bull-market rallies.
Strong dollar — generally bearish for stocks, tightens financial conditions, hurts risk assets. Strong dollar + rising Treasury yields can create severe market stress.
Separate infrastructure demand from investment quality. Rising aggregate CapEx can support chip, networking, power, and data-center suppliers, but it can also pressure the buyers’ margins and free cash flow when spending outruns revenue. Start with management’s latest full-year outlook, then compare SEC-reported CapEx growth with revenue growth and the current run-rate before checking supplier backlog/guidance and each ticker’s Grade. Guidance definitions differ by company and remain separate from reported cash CapEx; fiscal years also differ.
Start with the trade posture, then require upstream and downstream confirmation. Wholesale DRAM spot usually moves first; US retail shows whether the pressure is passing through to finished DDR5 kits. Retail confirmation uses the median move and breadth across reasonably stocked categories because a scarce configuration can distort the all-kit composite. Tightening favors memory-supplier pricing-power research; easing can relieve system-builder input costs. Verify the move against supplier guidance, relative strength, earnings risk, and each ticker’s Grade before acting. Spot data: TrendForce / DRAMeXchange; retail data: WhereIsMyRam.
Spot prices are per chip/module in USD (session average); retail prices are per kit in USD (lowest in-stock offer / category average). Sources are scraped best-effort and can go stale. Not financial advice.
Search attention is a participation signal, not a buy signal. Start with the 7-day change to find names or themes entering public attention, then check whether price, volume, options activity and fundamentals confirm the move. A surge without market confirmation can be curiosity, controversy or late-cycle crowding. Interest is Google Trends’ relative 0–100 index, normalized here against the same stock market anchor so rows can be compared; it is not absolute search volume.
US Google Search interest over the trailing 90 days, refreshed weekly on the free API tier. Source: Google Trends via SerpApi. Not financial advice.
Start with the trade posture, then separate input-cost pressure from demand. Rising cocoa or coffee can hurt exposed buyers; rising Baltic Dry can instead signal firmer industrial demand. The desk compares market series over 30 days and monthly series month over month so a noisy one-day move does not outrank a persistent trend. Aged observations are excluded from the decision desk but remain visible in detail. Use the impact label and linked tickers to check whether the move is transmitting through relative strength, volume, pricing actions, and margin guidance before acting. Items marked proxy track an ETF rather than the native spot benchmark.
Futures are front-month continuous contracts (daily settles); FRED series are monthly and publish on a lag. Proxy ETFs track direction, not the spot level. Scraped overlays are best-effort and can go stale. Not financial advice.
Start with the verified event mix, then review the newest financing terms before changing exposure. Share issuance expands the float; convertibles can add both leverage and future dilution; straight debt raises interest and refinancing risk without automatically diluting shareholders. Buyback authorizations are only intent until the company actually purchases shares. Only headlines that explicitly name the issuer and transaction enter the risk totals. Ambiguous ticker associations and insider-sale wording remain in the review ledger. Amounts shown from SEC filings are context and may describe a different reporting period, so confirm the offering price, coupon, maturity, conversion terms, share count, and use of proceeds at the linked source.
Start with the upcoming IPO calendar for the scheduled date, expected raise, proposed share-price range, and sector, then use the trade posture to judge the broader funding window. Dates and terms can change until pricing. Bond issuance shows whether companies can borrow, but an investment-grade-led month is not the same as broad access for riskier issuers. IPO counts are adjusted to a quarter run-rate before comparison with the completed prior quarter, and SPAC share is shown because a SPAC-heavy calendar can overstate conventional equity appetite. Bank deposits indicate funding stability; revolving and NY Fed balances describe household leverage, not immediate default stress. Confirm an open window with high-yield participation, improving ex-SPAC IPO pace, and stable deposits. Treat filing counts as activity rather than unique companies, and inspect the underlying sleeve before changing exposure.
Upcoming IPO dates and terms are estimates until priced and may be postponed or withdrawn. IPO counts include SPACs and small-caps. Filing counts are filings, not companies. FRED series publish on a lag (G.19 ~2 months, H.8 ~1 week); the NY Fed report is quarterly. Not financial advice.
13F: start with share-direction breadth. A stock added by many managers is stronger evidence than a large dollar change from one manager; dollar value also includes price drift, and filings can arrive 45 days after quarter-end. Form 4: code P open-market purchases are separated from code S sales and from grants, option exercises, gifts and tax withholding. Insider sales can reflect diversification or taxes, so no filing supplies an entry by itself. Open the ticker in Grade and confirm the current trend, catalyst, valuation and risk.
Everything that matters for buying calls and puts — the concepts, the levers you actually control, and the habits that keep you in the game. Built to scan, not to read cover to cover.
Run these in order. A clean contract cannot rescue a bad thesis, and a good thesis cannot rescue an untradeable contract.
All five clear? Validate the exact contract. If the payoff needs multiple legs, model the structure first.
start here
The right to buy 100 shares at a fixed price. You want this when you think the stock rises.
The right to sell 100 shares at a fixed price. You want this when you think the stock falls.
The price of the contract itself. 1 contract = 100 shares, so a "$2.00" option costs you $200.
The fixed price you'd buy or sell at if you exercised.
The deadline. After it, the option is worthless. "DTE" = days to expiration.
You almost always sell the option back before expiry — you rarely exercise.
where the strike sits
Intrinsic = the "real" value, how far in-the-money you already are. Extrinsic (time value) = everything you're paying for future possibility — and it's the part theta and IV destroy. An OTM option is 100% extrinsic, which is why it can rot to zero.
what moves your option's price
| Greek | Measures | What it means for a buyer | Hook |
|---|---|---|---|
| Delta | Price change per $1 stock move. Also ≈ the odds of expiring ITM. | Your direction exposure — usually the dominant driver of your P&L. | "speed" |
| Gamma | How fast delta itself changes. Highest when ATM. | Acceleration. Makes near-the-money options swing wildly. | "acceleration" |
| Theta | Value lost per day to time decay. | Almost always against you. Accelerates as expiration nears. | "the bleed" |
| Vega | Sensitivity to a 1-point move in IV. | Your volatility risk. High vega = exposed to IV collapsing. | "volatility" |
| Rho | Sensitivity to interest rates. | Minor on short trades — mostly safe to ignore. | "ignore-ish" |
the market's guess at movement
The market's expectation of how much a stock will move — not which direction. It's backed out of the option's price. High IV = expensive options; low IV = cheap. Bigger expected swings make options worth more.
Tells you if today's IV is high or low versus the stock's own past year. Low → buying is cheaper and safer. High → options are pricey and favor sellers. Check this before you buy.
Around earnings / binary events, IV inflates beforehand, then collapses the instant the news drops. You can be right on direction and still lose as IV deflates. A product announcement is a milder cousin — event-day IV that quietly fades, not a true crush.
can you actually get out?
The gap between buyers' and sellers' prices = your cost to transact. Tight = liquid & cheap. Wide = illiquid & a hidden tax every round trip.
How many contracts traded today. High volume = active right now = quick, fair fills.
How many contracts are currently open = the size of the existing crowd ready to take the other side.
Why it matters: getting in is easy; getting out is the problem. An illiquid option can trap you — forced to dump it below fair value, or no buyer at all near expiry. Stick to deep names (META, NVDA, SPY); obscure strikes and far-out expiries are where liquidity dries up.
strike & expiration
Cheap, explosive % gains, but 100% time value — decays fast and needs a big, fast move. Where beginners quietly lose.
Balanced cost. Highest gamma (most acceleration) and highest theta. Big swings both ways.
Pricier but behaves like the stock (high delta), decays slower, smaller % swings. Safer, less leveraged.
Cheap and fast — but theta is brutal and accelerates near the end. Can evaporate over a weekend.
Costs more, but slow decay and time for your thesis to play out.
The hard-learned rule: give yourself more time than you think you need. Being right but early still loses money if the option expires first.
execution timing · ET
Widest spreads, wildest prices. Market makers don't know fair value yet. Quotes can be stale. Wait 15–30 min for it to settle. Never market orders.
Thin volume, quiet ranges, calmest stretch. Reasonable spreads but little to act on.
Volume & volatility return as desks rebalance and traders close out. Late directional moves live here.
Always use limit orders near the mid. The big moves cluster at the open and power hour — but the open is also where fills are worst. Separate where the action is from where you can fill cleanly.
the part you control
the one that actually matters
Decide the maximum dollars a single trade can lose — before you enter — and size to it. Long options can go to zero, so survival is about never letting one trade hurt you badly. More accounts die from oversizing than from picking the wrong direction. This outranks every concept above.
the skill that compounds
When your option wins or loses, split the cause: delta (stock moved) · theta (time passed) · vega (IV shifted). Reach for the simplest explanation first — usually it's delta + theta, not an exotic vega story.
Log every trade: strike, expiration, entry price, IV at entry, your thesis, and why you exited. Recording IV at entry is what lets you prove (or rule out) a vega move later. The journal teaches you more than any guide.
REMEMBER · The Greeks aren't static — delta shifts as the stock moves (gamma), theta accelerates toward expiry, and vega shrinks as expiration nears. The option you hold a week later is a different instrument.
run it every time
The recurring ways buyers lose money — recognize them before they cost you.
The eight classic formations stonks flags on the intraday chart — drawn the way they actually look, with the tell, the trigger, and the trap for each. Built to eyeball, not to memorize.
The detector has two states. Forming means a recognizable shape is developing; confirmed means price has closed through the named level. Always compare that direction with the side you want to trade.
No directional permission yet. Use the named confirmation and invalidation levels to define what resolves the setup.
The break supports your side, but fresh price, event risk, liquidity and payoff still decide whether the trade is executable.
Do not let a strong grade or attractive contract overrule a confirmed reversal against the selected direction. Wait for invalidation.
reversal & continuation
Rounded base, small dip, breakout higher
Three peaks, the middle highest, tops out
Lower middle trough flips a downtrend bullish
Sharp rally, brief dip, trend resumes higher
Flat ceiling, rising floor, buyers win
Twin floors confirm a reversal higher
Twin peaks cap the rally and reverse it lower
Flat floor, falling highs, sellers win
where you'll see them
The Grade tab runs an AI chart-pattern detector over each ticker's last ~month of 30-minute bars and labels any of these eight as forming or confirmed. Forming patterns score zero: they are an early warning with explicit confirmation and invalidation levels. A confirmed pattern can support an aligned thesis, while an opposing confirmed reversal blocks that selected side; an opposing forming reversal forces a wait. Strategies uses the same gate, so a high payoff score cannot turn a chart conflict into an entry. Use this guide to sanity-check the named shape and its levels on the current chart.
Open Grade to inspect a live pattern → · Model the payoff only after timing clears →
stonks is a freemium options desk. Most of it is free to use right now — no account, no card. A focused set of members-only tools is unlocked with a premium Discord membership. Here's exactly what sits on each side of the line. Start browsing →
The whole app shell, every live quote/chain proxy, and the bulk of the research tabs are open to everyone. Premium adds the highest-signal, freshest, decision-grade layers — the stuff we'd charge for.
No account required — open the site and these are all live. Refreshed automatically through the trading day.
Search any tracked ticker to land straight on its chart — the AI chart-pattern read leads, above the daily price chart and full technicals — alongside its fundamentals, implied-vol term structure, AI news take, and a live contract grader that scores any specific call/put on bid-ask spread, delta, and theta.
Per-ticker option chains, technicals (RSI/MACD/SMA/S&R/IV regime), Greeks, IV term structure, earnings history, and an AI news take — for every tracked symbol.
A linked queue across every covered stock plus a dedicated macro lane for Fed, inflation, labor, growth, policy and energy news. Published economic prints show actual, consensus and prior values with their source; deterministic impact ranking, factual surprise reads and active-tape context stay separate from causal claims.
Overlay 2–4 normalized price histories across 1 month to 1 year, with a shared hover readout that keeps each name's actual close visible. Then compare valuation (P/E, PEG, P/S), growth, margins, the analyst read and the 4-pillar grade side by side.
Earnings AM/PM sessions, macro releases (CPI, NFP, PPI, JOLTS), FOMC dates and live FedWatch probabilities — with countdowns and clickable tickers.
A season-by-season scoreboard of every tracked name's earnings — beats vs misses, guidance raised or cut, whether the stock moved more than the options market priced in, the pre-earnings drift into each print, sell-the-news counts, the biggest gap-ups and gap-downs, a sortable look at who reports next, and a daily AI season read.
An entry-strategy engine that frames how to express a directional view with defined-risk option structures.
A Finviz-style map of the curated universe, sized by market cap and colored by performance or relative volume, with a live overlay, breadth ribbon, and ticker search.
Cross-market correlations — foreign indices, FX, US futures, commodities, rates, and crypto — and how each maps onto US names overnight.
CNN's 7-indicator equity-market sentiment index, 0–100, with a redesigned gauge and a scrubbable history.
How Treasury yields and the dollar shape equities — the yield curve, the 2Y10Y spread, sparklines, and the Fed anchor.
A quarterly snapshot of the largest institutional filers — top positions, biggest aggregate holdings, and rotation themes.
Eleven equity-relevant input-cost and demand signals — cocoa, cotton, coffee, sugar, palm oil, lumber, potash, lithium, container freight, the Baltic Dry, and used-vehicle values — each with momentum chips, a then-vs-now strip (3 months / 6 months / a year ago against today), a sparkline, and the tickers it matters for.
The quarterly capital-formation and consumer-credit dashboard — how many companies went public this quarter vs last, SEC prospectus-filing counts, the tracked universe's raise and buyback totals, plus the credit backdrop: national credit-card debt, bank deposits, and the NY Fed's household debt report.
Aggregate "Magnificent 7" capital expenditure pulled straight from SEC filings — this fiscal year vs last, per-company run-rates, and a revenue check: is CapEx growing faster than the revenue behind it?
DRAM / memory pricing from two independent sources — wholesale spot chips and modules plus US retail DDR5 kits — with a composite index, 7-day / 30-day / 3-month / 1-year changes, and a hoverable trend chart.
News-flagged debt, convertible and share issuance — plus buybacks — across the tracked universe, enriched with the latest filed amounts from SEC filings.
AI-built theses on what's driving capital — longs, shorts, the 6-stage lifecycle, a fundamentals-vs-hype gauge, bull/base/bear cases, and cited sources.
An AI research brief of each tracked name's latest earnings call, built from the full transcript — key takeaways, reported numbers, guidance, management and analyst tone, revealing Q&A, and risks.
A month-grid record of how SPY, QQQ, IWM, SMH, DIA, VXUS, TLT, GLD and VIX closed each trading day, with the close-to-close move in every cell.
Real-time spot, option chains, the live Fed Funds rate, and a "check a position you hold" pricer — the live data proxies are open to everyone.
A plain-language field guide to reading an option — what spread, delta, theta, and IV actually mean for the trade.
A reference of the common chart formations and what they tend to signal.
Premium is unlocked through our Discord server. There's no separate stonks account — your Discord membership is your access.
Questions about membership? Ask in the Discord, or see the Terms of Use and Privacy Policy.
Ming Street (“we,” “us,” or “our”) operates the website mingstreet.app (the “Site”) and provides stock market analysis tools, custom formulas, and related services (the “Service”). This Privacy Policy explains how we collect, use, disclose, and protect your personal information when you use our Site and Service.
By using the Site or Service, you agree to the collection and use of information in accordance with this Privacy Policy.
We collect several types of information from and about users of our Service, including:
If you choose to connect or link your Discord account with MingStreet (for example, to receive subscription-based roles or access community features), we may collect and store your Discord user ID, username, and information about roles or permissions granted through our integration. We use this information to manage access, verify subscriptions, and provide related features.
We may receive information about you from third-party services you connect with, such as payment processors or Discord.
We use the information we collect for the following purposes:
We implement reasonable technical and organizational measures to protect your personal information. However, no method of transmission over the internet or electronic storage is 100% secure. We cannot guarantee absolute security.
We retain your personal information for as long as necessary to provide the Service, comply with our legal obligations, resolve disputes, and enforce our agreements. When we no longer need your information, we will securely delete or anonymize it.
Depending on your location, you may have certain rights regarding your personal information, including:
To exercise these rights, please contact us at the email below. We will respond to verifiable requests in accordance with applicable law.
Our Service is not directed to individuals under the age of 18. We do not knowingly collect personal information from children under 18. If you believe we have collected information from a child, please contact us so we can take appropriate action.
If you are accessing the Service from outside the United States, please note that your information may be transferred to, stored, and processed in the United States, where data protection laws may differ from those in your jurisdiction.
We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time. When we do, we will revise the “Last Updated” date at the top of this page. We encourage you to review this Privacy Policy periodically. Your continued use of the Service after any changes constitutes your acceptance of the revised policy.
If you have any questions or concerns about this Privacy Policy or our data practices, please contact us at:
These Terms of Use and Conditions govern your access to and use of MingStreet. Please read them carefully — by using the Site or Service you agree to be bound by them.
The information, tools, features, custom formulas, analysis, data visualizations, and other content available on mingstreet.app (collectively, the “Site”, “Mingst”, the “Service”, “Services”, or “Content”) are provided for informational and educational purposes only. They should not be construed as investment, financial, tax, legal, or trading advice.
The Content is intended only as a starting point for your own independent research and due diligence. You should form your own opinion and consult qualified professionals before making any investment or trading decisions.
Mingst is operated by Ming Street (“the Company,” “we,” “us,” or “our”). We are not registered investment advisors, broker-dealers, or financial professionals. Nothing on the Site constitutes a solicitation or recommendation to buy, sell, or hold any security.
Past performance is not indicative of future results. Trading and investing in securities, options, and related instruments involve a high degree of risk, including the potential loss of your entire investment. Any decision to trade with real funds is made entirely at your own risk and discretion. The Company assumes no responsibility or liability for your trading results, investment decisions, or any losses incurred.
All stock, market, and financial data is sourced from independent third-party providers. The Company does not guarantee the accuracy, completeness, timeliness, or reliability of any Information or formulas. Content is provided “as is” and may change without notice.
THE SERVICE IS PROVIDED “AS IS” AND “AS AVAILABLE” WITHOUT ANY WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, express or implied, including but not limited to warranties of merchantability, fitness for a particular purpose, title, or non-infringement. We do not warrant that the Service will be uninterrupted, error-free, secure, or meet your expectations.
In no event shall the Company, its owners, employees, agents, affiliates, or licensors be liable to any user or third party for any damages of any kind (including investment losses, lost profits, lost opportunity, or any direct, indirect, incidental, special, consequential, or punitive damages) arising out of or relating to the use of, or inability to use, the Service or any Content, whether based in contract, tort (including negligence), strict liability, or otherwise, even if advised of the possibility of such damages.
This limitation applies to any damages caused by any failure of performance, error, omission, interruption, deletion, defect, delay, computer virus, communication line failure, unauthorized access, or use of any information on the Site.
FURTHERMORE, in no event shall the Company be liable for any damages to your computer equipment or other property resulting from your access to or use of the Site, or for any injury, loss, claim, or special, exemplary, punitive, indirect, incidental, or consequential damages (including lost profits or lost savings), whether based in contract, tort, strict liability, or otherwise, arising out of or connected with (i) any use of the Site or Content, (ii) any failure or delay in use of the Site, or (iii) the performance or non-performance by us or any third-party provider.
NEITHER THE COMPANY NOR ANY OF ITS EMPLOYEES, AGENTS, SUCCESSORS, ASSIGNS, AFFILIATES, OR CONTENT OR SERVICE PROVIDERS shall be liable to you or any third party for any direct, indirect, incidental, special, or consequential damages arising out of use of the Services or inability to access or use the Services, or out of any breach of warranty. Because some jurisdictions do not allow the exclusion or limitation of liability for consequential or incidental damages, the above limitation may not apply to you.
We reserve the right to change any information on the Site, including revising or deleting features, without prior notice. The Company assumes no responsibility for the content or availability of any third-party websites linked from the Site.
By using the Service, you agree that your use is entirely at your own risk. You agree that your sole remedy for dissatisfaction with the Service is to stop using it.
By accessing, browsing, registering for, or using the Site or any Service (including free or paid features), you acknowledge that you have read, understood, and agree to be bound by these Terms of Use and Conditions and our Privacy Policy. If you do not agree, please do not use the Site.
These Terms constitute a legally binding agreement between you and the Company.
You must be at least 18 years old (or the age of majority in your jurisdiction) to use the Service. By using the Site you represent that you meet this requirement.
You are responsible for maintaining the confidentiality of your account credentials and for all activity under your account. Notify us immediately of any unauthorized use.
We may refuse registration or terminate accounts at our sole discretion.
MingSt offers both free and paid subscription tiers. Pricing and available features are clearly displayed at the time of purchase.
To access certain features (including paid subscriptions), you must create an account. You agree to provide accurate, current, and complete information during registration and to keep this information up to date. You are solely responsible for maintaining the confidentiality of your password and account. You are fully responsible for all activity that occurs under your account, including any use by third parties, whether or not authorized by you. You must immediately notify us of any unauthorized use of your account or password.
We reserve the right to refuse registration or terminate any account at our sole discretion.
Paid subscriptions automatically renew at the end of each billing period unless you cancel before the renewal date. You may cancel your subscription at any time through your account settings or by contacting support. Cancellations take effect at the end of the current billing period. Refunds are not provided except as required by applicable law or at our sole discretion.
You authorize Mingst (or our designated payment processor) to charge your chosen payment method for all applicable fees, including any applicable taxes. You are responsible for keeping your payment information current.
If a trial period is offered, you will receive confirmation by email. Unless you cancel before the end of the trial period, your subscription will automatically convert to a paid subscription at the end of the trial and you will be charged according to the plan you selected.
You agree not to circumvent, or attempt to circumvent, any security or billing systems. Any attempt to obtain paid services without proper payment may result in immediate termination of your account and additional charges, in addition to any other remedies available to us.
We may suspend or terminate your account or subscription at any time for any reason, including violation of these Terms. You are responsible for all charges incurred up to the effective date of termination.
All Content on the Site—including custom formulas, analysis tools, code, design, text, graphics, and data visualizations—is owned by the Company or its licensors and is protected by copyright, trademark, and other laws.
You receive a limited, non-exclusive, non-transferable license to access and use the Service for your personal, non-commercial purposes only. You may not copy, modify, distribute, sell, reverse-engineer, or create derivative works from the Content or formulas without prior written permission.
While using the Service, you agree not to:
We have no obligation to monitor the Service. However, we reserve the right to monitor usage and, subject to our Privacy Policy, to disclose any information as necessary to comply with applicable law, operate the Service properly, or protect Ming Street and its users. We may remove content or terminate accounts that violate these Terms.
If you submit comments, feedback, suggestions, or other content to the Site, you grant Ming Street and its affiliates a non-exclusive, royalty-free, perpetual, irrevocable, worldwide, and fully sublicensable license to use, reproduce, modify, adapt, publish, translate, create derivative works from, distribute, and display such content in any form or media now known or later developed.
You represent and warrant that you own or control all rights to the material you submit, that it is accurate and does not violate any third-party rights, and that you will indemnify and hold Ming Street harmless from any claims arising from the material you provide.
Ming Street takes no responsibility and assumes no liability for any content submitted by users or third parties.
The Site may contain links to third-party websites, data sources, or services. We are not responsible for the content, accuracy, availability, or practices of any third-party sites or data providers. All stock, market, and financial data is provided by independent third parties. We do not guarantee its accuracy, completeness, or timeliness, and some data may be delayed as required by exchanges or information providers.
You acknowledge that you are solely responsible for your own investment research and decisions. We shall not be liable for any action taken or decision made by you based on information obtained through the Service or any linked sites.
We may update these Terms at any time. Changes will be effective upon posting (or as otherwise notified). Continued use after changes constitutes acceptance.
These Terms are governed by the laws of the State of California, without regard to its conflict of law principles. Any dispute arising out of or relating to these Terms shall be resolved through binding arbitration in Los Angeles, California, in accordance with the rules of JAMS. If arbitration is not permitted or available, the dispute shall be resolved in the state or federal courts located in Los Angeles County, California.
You agree to indemnify, defend, and hold harmless Ming Street, its owners, employees, agents, affiliates, and licensors from and against any and all claims, damages, losses, liabilities, costs, and expenses (including reasonable attorneys’ fees) arising out of or relating to:
These Terms, together with our Privacy Policy and any other agreements expressly incorporated by reference, constitute the entire agreement between you and Ming Street concerning the Service and supersede all prior or contemporaneous agreements, representations, and understandings, whether written or oral.
If any provision of these Terms is held to be invalid, illegal, or unenforceable, the remaining provisions shall continue in full force and effect. The invalid provision shall be modified to the minimum extent necessary to make it valid and enforceable.
The failure of Ming Street to enforce any right or provision of these Terms shall not constitute a waiver of such right or provision. Any waiver must be in writing and signed by an authorized representative of Ming Street to be effective.
You may not assign or transfer these Terms or any rights or obligations hereunder without the prior written consent of Ming Street. Ming Street may assign these Terms without restriction. These Terms shall be binding upon and inure to the benefit of the parties and their respective successors and permitted assigns.
For questions about these Terms: