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On **Pre-market relative strength vs SPY — A-list filter**, the desk standard stays practical. Relative strength without an index anchor becomes a story about a ticker in a vacuum. I filter PM leaders against SPY (and sometimes QQQ) before they earn full size.

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
- RS is a filter.
- Story without RS often fails open.
- Invalidation written in cents or an auditable structure break before entry.

## Framework I will not skip
1. Write the definition before the open (level, trigger, invalidation in cents, size, max loss). Verbal plans do not count.
2. Liquidity and spread gates beat narrative. If live spread exceeds max, observe or cut — the chart can still "look perfect."
3. One clean attempt per idea in a window. Failed attempt means new structure, not revenge.
4. SPY/QQQ context for single-name full size; cut or skip when the basket disagrees.
5. Tag the trade or the skip the same day — Sunday-you cannot fix what Monday-you did not name.

## Worked example — RS vs SPY ignored
Name green pre-market while SPY heavy; still A-list full size. Filter: pre-market RS vs SPY graded; disagreement cuts size or demotes.

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 **Pre-market relative strength vs SPY — A-list filter** 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 **Pre-market relative strength vs SPY — A-list filter**, keep operable boredom: written rails, measured cents, index context when relevant, and a skip that needs no apology. Process quality beats ticket volume.

A follow-up to my pre-market relative strength filter. The filter does a good job of picking names that are stronger than SPY before the open. What it doesn't cover is the name that looks strong at 09:15 ET and gives it all back by 09:40. I had no rule for that, and I kept buying dips in names that had already stopped being relative-strength names.

## The flip rule
- At 09:45 ET I re-check each A-list name against SPY from the 09:30 open, not from the prior close.
- If SPY is up from the open and my name is down from its open, or SPY is flat and my name is down meaningfully, the name gets a FLIPPED tag.
- FLIPPED names are off the long list for the rest of the morning. I don't automatically make them short candidates. They go to "observe."
- A FLIPPED name can come back only if it reclaims its opening print and holds for 5 minutes while SPY is steady or rising.

## Worked example (illustrative)
09:15 ET: a $27 name is up premarket while SPY futures are flat. Strong RS, and it goes on the A-list.

It opens at 27.40 at 09:30. By 09:45 ET it's at 27.12 while SPY is slightly up from its own open. Tag: FLIPPED. At 09:52 ET it dips to 27.05 and bounces to 27.15, the kind of "dip" I used to buy. Not today.

At 10:20 ET it reclaims 27.40 and holds 27.40–27.46 through 10:25 ET, with SPY steady. The tag comes off. At 10:27 ET I buy 300 at 27.48 with a stop at 27.36, 12 cents. It reaches 27.70 at 10:38 ET. I sell half at 27.69 for 21 cents and trail the rest to 27.60 at 10:46 ET for 12 cents.

## Failure modes
- Measuring RS from the prior close after the open, which makes a fading gapper look strong all morning.
- Turning every FLIPPED name into a short. Weak isn't the same as a setup.
- Forgetting the reclaim rule and leaving a good name off the list all day.

## When to skip
- If SPY itself reverses hard in the first fifteen minutes, RS comparisons get noisy. I cut to one name.
- If the name has already flipped twice in the morning, I don't take it back even after a reclaim.

Diagram: two lines from the 09:30 open (SPY up, the name down) with a FLIPPED tag at 09:45 ET, and a reclaim box at the opening print that removes the tag.