Trade Cards

One row for every name the desk signalled tonight. The row says which way, for how long, how likely, and what to place. This is the screen every new account opens on.

Inside the software this screen has a fixed short name, todays-book. It took the name Trade Cards on 2026-09-24. The short name did not change, so a saved layout keeps working.

Two older screens were deleted the same day: Tonight's Briefing, the sized book, and the first Trade Cards layout of stock and index option cards. What they stated is read here now.

At a glance

• The front is forward looking. Only projected values are on a row. The measured past sits under the Track record tab in the detail.
• The marks. A chevron for direction. A bar for the chance the name finishes on the desk's side. Three dots for confidence.
• The tick on the bar. That is the same chance over any stock. A signal is worth reading only when the bar clears the tick.
• Picking a row. The right hand side redraws for that name. On a narrow screen the detail slides over the list, with a Back control.
• The five lists. Signals, Hot, Popular and Favourites all draw the same row. Leaders draws boards instead.
• The word call. On this screen a call is an option, as in a long call or a 460 call. The desk's own view is a signal.
• Ten on the sheet. The rest of the names that cleared a band sit under a divider, one shade dimmer, and the count on the tab does not move.
• The question mark. The small circle beside the list control opens one sentence on how the list in front is built.

The options focus. Every signal row closes on an option structure: the contract, the expiry, the limit, the Max loss and the sizes on four fixed paper accounts. A row the chain could not price says shares only, and why.

Key difference. The probability on a row is the desk's own measured rate for that band. The probability of profit under Trade is the option market's odds, read off the delta.

Reading a row

Left to right, a row answers the questions in the order a trader asks them.

One line under the list's own tabs says which rows are signals and which are not, so the bar's own meaning is never guessed at.

A row that says shares only carries no contract. The reason sits behind the words, on hover or in the detail. It is one of two things: no chain was captured for the name, or no strike sat in the band the structure needed.

A row that says no signal still carries an outlook, a probability with any stock beside it and a confidence word, High down to None. None prints as "no edge". A no-signal row with an edge still carries a structure, taking no side.

Arrow keys move the selection down the list. Enter opens the detail on a narrow screen. Every mark carries its figure in words on hover.

The funnel under the rows

Five bars sit under the list, on one scale, counting the ranking down to tonight's sheet. Every name ranked, then those with a signal, then those moving enough, then those whose options could be priced, then those on the sheet.

The bars shorten left to right, and the shortening is the answer to why these names and not others.

Every step is a button. Ranked opens the Every Name screen. With a signal opens the rest of the rows. Moving, options priced and on the sheet each narrow the sheet to those rows, and a Clear control puts it back.

At the end of the strip sits the door to all of them, as "All 995 names". It opens the same Every Name screen.

The divider, and the rest of the rows

Under the funnel, one control opens the names that cleared a band without making the sheet. They never join the ten in silence.

A line prints inside the list where the sheet ends. It says how many rows follow and that they are not on tonight's ten. The rows under it draw one shade dimmer, and the same door to every name sits beside the line.

The count on the tab is the count of the sheet. It does not move when the rest of the rows open, because they are a second list rather than more of the first. Arrow keys still walk every row, above the line and below it.

Widths

The line between the sheet and the detail can be dragged. It can also be moved with the left and right arrow keys once it has focus. Neither side goes under 420 pixels.

The right hand edge of any heading can be dragged to change that column. A double press on an edge puts the column back. Both are remembered in this browser for the next visit.

The five lists

Signals

Every name the desk signalled tonight. A name reaches this list on one of two counts. Its 45 trading day signal sits in the top 5 percent on either side. Or its 20 trading day signal sits in the top 2 percent. The stronger band wins when both do.

The order is how far the probability clears any stock, largest first. The count beside the tab is how many rows the list holds.

Hot

Hot is the ten names with the most option contracts traded on the quote date, calls plus puts. It is what the options market was busy with, and it is not a list of signals. Most rows here carry no signal, and they say so.

Popular

Ten names on the most member lists, with how many members hold each one. It is a count of attention, not a measurement of the names.

Favourites

The names starred on this account's own list, in the order they were starred. Star a name anywhere on the desk and it arrives here. An empty list says so in one line.

Leaders

Boards of ten names, one measurement to a board. Each board runs on its own scale, because an IV rank and a one day move share no units. Pressing a bar selects that name in the detail.

The boards are the highest IV ranks, the highest realised volatility, the names that rose and fell most, and the best ranked names on each side. A board with no source that trading day is left out.

Themes

Ten watch lists inside Leaders, grouped by line of business: semiconductors, AI cloud and power, crypto linked names and more. Picking a chip draws its names in the sheet's own row shape, and clicking a row opens the same detail as every other row. A listed name with no price and no option chain is listed underneath, quietly, with why.

Indexes

The four major index funds, one row each. SPY tracks the S&P 500, QQQ the Nasdaq 100, IWM the Russell 2000 and DIA the Dow. The desk reads SPX through SPY and NDX through QQQ, and those two rows say so.

• The model's signal on the fund. The model scores each fund beside the stocks and ranks it against every name it scores. The top 20 percent of the 45 trading day ranking reads bullish, the bottom 20 percent bearish, and the middle neutral. The fund never enters the stock ranking.
• A probability only from the fund's own record. The model learned mostly from single stocks, so the stock figures say nothing about a fund. A row prints a probability only from that fund's own record of past signals. The same fund's figure on any day sits beside it, with the days and the separate stretches of 45 trading days behind it.
• Not measured yet. A side with fewer than ten separate stretches of 45 trading days prints no probability and says so. SPY, QQQ and IWM joined the model's data in August 2025, so their records are short. DIA's bullish side is measured, and it did worse than any day.
• The volatility basis. IV rank, and the priced move to the listed expiry nearest 30 days out. The options figures carry the option chain's own trading day, and the price carries the chart's.
• The strategy is the index rule. Sell the put nearest 0.25 delta, buy the put nearest 0.05 below it, 21 to 45 days to expiry, nearest 30. Hold to expiry, with no profit taking and no stop. The far wing caps the loss.
• Why that rule. It is the one options structure the desk has measured, on sixteen years of real index chains. The stock rows' rules were never measured on funds, so they are not used here.
• No contract some nights. When the captured chain holds no strike near a leg's delta, the row prints no contract and says which leg was missing. It never prints a different structure under this one's name.

Ask about any of them by fund or by index: "what does the desk say about SPY", "the S&P 500", "the Dow".

The detail

Picking a row opens the name in full, on the right on a wide screen and over the list on a narrow one.

Two pictures sit at the top. The ring is the chance the name finishes the hold on the desk's side, and it names the hold under the figures. The any stock mark sits on the same circle. The band draws the last twenty closes as a line. Beside the line, the size the model expects is a bracket on the desk's side. The chain's own band is a lighter bracket. All of it is on one price scale.

Five tabs sit under them.

Trade

The structure the desk would place, and the plain long call or long put beside it. Each states the contract, the expiry and the days to expiry. Each then states the model mid and what it was worked from. Then the limit, the Max loss, the Max gain, the breakeven and the option market's odds.

A plain long call reads "unlimited" where the others print a cap, because its upside really has none. The price line reads "Bid, Ask, Mid" when the chain carried the two quotes, and "Model mid" when it did not. Each leg is a chip with its strike, its type and the size of its delta. A structure with two breakevens, an iron condor or a long straddle, prints both, low and high.

Under that, four fixed account sizes and how many contracts each takes. A size that does not fit says so.

Under the accounts, the desk's own study tool for the structure, drawn once and inline. It carries the sliders for days left and volatility, the odds table, and strikes a reader can drag. Its own step and slice figures sit behind one Figures control, shut by default.

A small "Open in its own pane" control sits on the preferred structure's study. It opens the same study in its own pane (Trade study), which can be moved, tiled or floated.

Exit

Every line that ends the trade, all decided before it opens. The entry, the target, the stop and the time stop. On a structure priced from volatility alone, the management rule industry practice follows, since that structure has no signal of its own to manage against. Then what happens on assignment, and when to roll. Then whether earnings fall inside the hold, what a gap does, and the size rule.

Setup

What the daily bars showed on the quote date. Each indicator is a chip with its value and one word for it. The entry rule is the open unless the setup sits against the signal, and then it is a limit at the 20 day average.

Volatility

Three tiles, named apart so none is read as another. The market tile is the volatility print for the whole market. The realised tile is how far this name has actually moved over 20 trading days. The priced tile is what the chain charges, with the IV rank under it.

Under the tiles, where the open contracts sit: the put wall, the call wall, the zero gamma level and the puts over calls. Every one of those is calls less puts under the standard assumption. It is a convention, not a reading of who holds what.

Under that, the Model block, when the model carries one. Its rank at 10, 20 and 45 trading days, the size of the move it expects, and the day's volume against average. Then the model's own read on the next 20 trading days' volatility and pullback risk. A rank the model did not work out prints nothing.

Track record

The measured past for the band this name cleared. The rate, the same rate over any stock, the gap between them, the band, the sample it was measured on, and the rank.

A row with no signal carries no measured band. This tab states its outlook instead: where its rank sits, and the edge measured there.

There is no year by year chart yet, because no year by year source is measured yet. The tab draws what is held and nothing else.

Every figure here is paper and sits beside the coin flip it was measured against. Nothing on this tab is a promise about tonight.

Where the figures come from

The header names which generation published the sheet, when the payload carries a label for it, beside the same signal date printed below it.

The header names every date the sheet was built from. The model scored one trading day. The option chain was captured on another. The price chart was rebuilt on another again, and it is printed only when it differs from the chain's. On the phone these dates sit behind the info button beside the title.

They differ most evenings for an ordinary reason: the chain is built in the afternoon and the chart the following morning. The hover on that line says so in the payload's own words.

The probability is the band's own measured rate over about 998,000 stock days. The any stock figure is the same measurement over every stock in the same span. The gap between them is the whole claim.

What the screen is not

It is not a live quote and not a broker. It is not a forecast of where a name goes. A probability is a probability and not a promise.

Frequently asked questions

What is the Hot tab? The ten names with the most option contracts traded on the quote date, calls plus puts. It shows where the options market was busy. It is not a list of signals, and most Hot rows say they carry none.

How is the size chosen on a card? One rule for every card: the max loss is never over 5 percent of the account. The card shows how many contracts fit four paper accounts: $5,000, $25,000, $100,000 and $250,000. A size that would risk more than 5 percent says does not fit. The rule is the same for every reader.

What does good for 3 days mean? The order is a limit order that stays open for three days. If the limit is not filled by then, the order ends.

Why is the past hidden? Because a reader decides on what is ahead. The record is one press away under Track record and it is not thrown away.

Why does a row on Hot show a quieter bar? The desk had no signal on that name tonight. The bar falls back to the model's measured odds for its own rank instead, a shade quieter so it is never mistaken for a signal.

Why is there no bar at all? The wire carried neither a signal nor an outlook for that row. That is a gap in what was sent rather than an ordinary evening.

What is the outlook on a no-signal row? The measured record of the slice the name sits in, whether or not it has a signal, with any stock beside it.

What are the Themes? Ten watch lists inside Leaders, grouped by line of business.

Why two structures on the Trade tab? The first follows the IV rank and the side. The second is the plain long option, for a reader who wants one leg.

Why is the probability of profit different? It is the option market's own odds at expiry, read off the delta. It is never the desk's number.

How are the numbers rounded? An IV rank and a percent print whole. A move keeps one decimal. A price, a delta and the volatility print keep two.

Where do the other screens go? The chips at the foot of the detail open the price chart, the options screens, the Ask and the filings on the same name.

Why is this pane empty (or showing nothing tonight)? On a box that holds no ranking yet, the sheet is empty and a line says so. It never shows an invented row. On a free plan the sheet is the previous trading day, complete, and a line above the list says so.

Where did Tonight's Briefing and the old card screens go? They were deleted on 2026-09-24. Tonight's signals, each with its option structure and its sizes on four paper accounts, are stated here instead.

Why does my sheet say the previous trading day? A free plan reads the previous trading day, complete. A line above the list says so whenever it is true.