Float / SI / Catalyst Sheet

[NYC88]

Keep a boring sheet. Update when you stalk a name, not when chat yells.

Chat-yelling updates are how stale SI and "trust me bro" catalysts end up in your size. I've been the guy refreshing Twitter instead of the sheet. Sheet is slower. Sheet is better.

Columns

Code: Select all

ticker | float_M | SI_% | days_to_cover | catalyst | source | as_of | notes | tradeable_Y/N

Interpretation without mysticism

Low float + real catalyst can move — also can trap. High SI is not an automatic squeeze; it's a context flag. Stale SI prints: treat as approximate. Catalyst without source link: mark `rumor` and mean it.

Discipline

If `tradeable_N` because of structure/spread, no debating mid-trade. The sheet is a gate, not a suggestion box. Suggestion boxes belong in HR, not in your order ticket.

Where do you pull float/SI from, and how often do you refresh?
What's your personal float "sweet spot" for the size you run?
Hard tradeable_N rules — spread, halt risk, what else?
Anyone still size on SI headlines without a source timestamp? (Be honest.)

[Fairman]

Float / short interest / catalyst sheets are prep tools. They are not entry triggers. On a US equity scalp desk I use the sheet to decide whether a name is even eligible for the A-list — then I still require tape gates before size.

Replying in-thread with operable constraints — not forum combat. If these rails disagree with your framing, treat it as a checklist offer.

Prep earns rent when it finishes before the bell: A-list, spread notes, news windows, and one sentence for stand-down. Unfinished sheets become open improvisation.

## Rails that stay on the sheet
- Prep tool ≠ trigger.
- Illiquid traps punish romance.
- Invalidation written in cents or an auditable structure break before entry.

## Framework: eligibility vs permission
Eligibility: the name is liquid enough, the catalyst is real enough, and the risk parameters fit the sleeve. Permission: RTH structure, spread inside live max, index agreement, and a written invalidation. Traders blow up mixing these — they see high SI and treat it as a long trigger, or see a catalyst and skip spread measurement.

## Worked example — Float sheet as entry trigger
Low float + high SI used as marketable long trigger. Book hostile; halt risk. Sheet informs risk and skip — it does not fire entries alone.

I keep examples in cents and clock time so Sunday review can tag the behavior — not rewrite it as a mood.

## Failure modes
- Ignoring the rails above on **Float / SI / Catalyst Sheet** and substituting confidence.
- Adding size after adverse selection because the story still feels right.
- Paying open microstructure tax that midday memory never modeled.

## When to skip
Skipping is a first-class decision — even when the chart still looks persuasive:
- Checklist incomplete at 09:20 ET — observe or one pre-written A+ only.
- Live spread outside max for that symbol and session bucket.
- Index violently disagrees with a single-name thesis and no reduced-size RS plan is on the sheet.
- Platform, hotkeys, locate, or flatten path unverified after reconnect/update.
- Daily loss, PDT slot, or prop buffer tripwire already touched.
- News/FOMC/CPI window where the size-cut card says stand down.

## Closing
For **Float / SI / Catalyst Sheet**, keep operable boredom: written rails, measured cents, index context when relevant, and a skip that needs no apology. Process quality beats ticket volume.