Your first ten minutes
Last updated 2026-09-24
The desk has forty panes and sixteen layouts. You do not need them on day one. This page is the five things to do first, in order, with a button to open each one. It takes about ten minutes.
At a glance
- Step one, read the signals. Trade Cards is the screen every account lands on. It lists the names the firm signalled this evening, with the option structure the desk would place on each.
- Step two, open the Ticker Study. One screen holds everything about one name.
- Step three, link a name. Click any row in the Watchlist or the Market Scan. Every pane on the screen switches to that name.
- Step four, read the Read-out. Six short sentences at the bottom left, one per pane. Each has a button that opens the pane behind it.
- Step five, star what you want to keep. The star on any row saves the name to your Watchlist. It is there tomorrow.
- Key difference. Trade Cards is what the firm published. Everything else on the desk is how it was arrived at. Read it first and the rest second.
Step one: read the signals
Trade Cards holds one row per signal: which way, for how long, how likely, and the option structure with its limit. Picking a row opens the whole name, with the exits, the setup, the volatility and the measured record. Each structure is sized on four fixed paper accounts.
Which trading day the sheet shows depends on the plan. The page What this desk can and cannot tell you says so.
Step two: open the Ticker Study
The layout tabs run along the top of the desk. Ticker Study sits behind the options run and Market Conditions. It holds your Watchlist, the Read-out, the rank by time frame, the earnings and event dates, and what option prices carry for one name.
You never need to build a screen yourself. The layouts are ready made, and The Layouts says what each one is for.
Step three: link a name
Click a row. The name is now linked, and every pane that follows the linked name redraws for it. That includes the Read-out and the whole Ticker Study. You can also type a ticker into the search box at the top and press Enter.
Step four: read the Read-out
The Read-out is one sentence per pane, in no particular order. Each sentence restates what one pane shows for the linked name. Read them, then press the button beside any one to see the full pane behind it.
The Read-out concludes with the desk's side, the agreement count, and what the chart says against it. How to study a name walks one name through the whole desk with a real ticker.
Step five: star what you want to keep
The star on any row saves that name to your Watchlist. The list is saved to your account, and each name is looked up again in tonight's scan every time you open the pane. Nothing on it is a stale copy.
After the ten minutes
- Ask the assistant. Press the Ask RM button in any pane's header and ask what the pane shows. It answers from that pane's own guide.
- Read the two primers. Rank Not Return for the ranking panes, Reading The Options Suite for the options panes. Both are short.
- Check the record. Checking the record shows how to see what the book held on any past trading day.
Frequently asked questions
Do I have to open every pane? No. Trade Cards on its own is a complete answer to what the firm published tonight. The rest is there when you want the reasoning.
What if my screen looks different from this page? Layouts can be rearranged and saved. Reset to factory settings from the layout menu and the tabs come back in this order.
Where do I ask something this page does not answer? The assistant, from any pane. Or email [email protected].
Related panes
- Trade Cards, tonight's signals.
- Read-out, the sentences.
- Watchlist, the names you keep.
- The Layouts, what each screen is for.