Round-number walls on $50–$200 names: when whole dollars stall the tape

[Fairman]

I keep a short note on my monitor for liquid names priced between about $50 and $200: whole dollars are where people park orders, so they are where my entries get tested. I don't treat a round number as magic. I treat it as a place where I need more proof before I pay the spread.

## Rails
- Mark the nearest whole dollar and the nearest half dollar above and below the current price before 09:25 ET. No other levels until the opening range is set.
- A break of a whole dollar only counts if price holds at least 5 cents beyond it for one full 1-minute bar, and the next pullback does not trade back through it.
- My first entry after a round-number break is half size. I add the second half only on the retest hold.
- The stop sits back on the other side of the round number, plus the live spread. If that stop is wider than my max cents for the name, I pass.

## Worked example (illustrative numbers)
A $78 name is pushing into 80.00 at 09:52 ET. I see size resting at 80.00 on the offer and repeated prints at 79.98–80.00. At 09:54 ET it trades 80.06 and the 1-minute bar closes at 80.07. I buy half at 80.08. At 09:57 ET it pulls back to 80.02, holds, and prints 80.10 again; I add the second half at 80.11. My stop is 79.95 on the full position. Average entry is about 80.095, so the risk is roughly 14.5 cents a share. Target is the first test of 80.50, where I sell half, and I trail the rest behind the last 1-minute higher low.

If the pullback had traded 79.97 instead, the half position is out for about 11 cents and I stop trading that level for the morning.

## Failure modes
- Buying the first print through the number. That print is often where resting sellers finish, not where buyers start.
- Moving the stop "just under" the round number, which is exactly where everyone else put theirs.
- Using round numbers on names under $10, where a dollar is a huge move and the idea stops working.

## When to skip
- The spread is wider than 3 cents at the level.
- SPY is pressing into its own round number against the direction of my trade.
- It is the third touch of the level in ten minutes and each bounce is getting smaller. That is a tape grinding the level down, and I'd rather wait for the actual break.

Diagram: a price line stalling at 80.00, a break-and-hold box at 80.07, and the retest-add arrow with the stop drawn below the whole dollar.