c8alpha — today's picks
2026-08-04 15:55 ET · auto-refresh 15m

Today's picks.

▸ Showing the last session — Fri Jul 31. New picks fire after ~9:30 ET.

Live recommendations from validated plays. BUYs are deterministic-gate-cleared, then LLM-scored for conviction tier (HIGH/MED/LOW). SKIPs are grouped by the override mechanism that filtered them. All judgment cites the validated mechanism — no caution-as-rigor.

BUYs today
0
Open positions
3
Closed (track record)
18
Hit rate / mean
72% · +6.4%
Refreshed 2026-08-04 15:55 ET · 2026-07-31 · build ff56da10
🟢 Market stance: RISK-ON SPY -0.3% off its high · 42d since ATH

New confirmed BUYs today (0)

Genuinely new picks that made it through all four stages today: mechanical gate passes, advisor evaluates favorably, AND the play's publication policy is satisfied — for most plays that means a confirming second fire; a play publishes on fire #1 only where its spec validates single-fire edge (see methodology).

No BUYs today. The deterministic gate filtered everything that fired.
Today's gate-filtered SKIPs (1) — research transparency, not action

What fired but the deterministic gate filtered. Grouped by override mechanism — each citation names the rule, not vibes. Subscribers can ignore this section; kept for transparency about what the system rejected.

Consumed catalyst (T+0..3 post-earnings) (1)
feedback_evaluate_as_system.md — first 3 days after earnings = positioning likely already monetized.
QCOM
csp_panic
Consumed catalyst (post-earnings T+2); skald ⚠️ flag, feedback_evaluate_as_system.md
13:30
▲ Exiting soon (2) — hold window closes within 2 trading days. An action you may want to take.
GGB uoa_slow_build +11.14% exits today · 2026-08-04
TRMB institutional_oi_build +11.83% 1d left · 2026-08-05

Open positions — flagship (2) · Proven / Validated plays · ranked by validation tier

One row per ticker, not per fire. Re-fires within each play's hold window are treated as signal confirmations on the same position (per spec.position). Sorted by freshness. Click a column header to re-sort. Entry recomputed from raw bars. Signal freshness: Fresh 0 Active 0 Mature 2 — factual labels only; no claim about whether to chase or hold (per backtest 2026-05-26, neither chase nor mean-reversion edge clears permutation per play).

Sectors: ★ AI/DC 1 — AI/DC closed n=142 mean +15.9% WR 68% p=0.0000. Software closed n=38 mean +6.4% but median -3.6%, WR 45%, p=0.75 (mixed). Per validation 2026-05-26. Labeling only.

Ticker / company
Bought / now
Plays that fired
Freshness
Return
#1 OSIS BUY Mature ★ AI/DC
OSI Systems Inc · Semiconductors & Related Devices
$4.7B · 52w $197.73–$309.68 (-23.7%)
signal: options flow → position: equity
Entered 2026-07-22
$208.00
Now $236.20
uoa_slow_build Validated
3 fires · 1 distinct play · LLM 65 · CE 59% · n43
~8d to auto-exit last fire 12d ago · 20d hold
review 68 · 2026-08-03
+13.56%
held 13d
OSIS shows an unusually clean LEAPS accumulation event: total OI surged 3.1x from 1,872 to 6,604 on July 14–15, with LEAPS call OI alone jumping 12.1x from 413 to 5,012 and retaining 100% of that position through July 22 — six straight days of OI stability despite declining daily RVOL. Put/call OI ratio collapsed from 0.68 to 0.11 and held there, a structural shift in OI composition rather than a day-trade flush. That is one thread: everything — RVOL 4.74x streak avg, 93.4% calls, 92.5% LEAPS, IV rank 83%, iv_rv_ratio 1.99, near-ATM concentration 0.956, gex_percentile 96–98% — comes from the options chain. An independent second thread comes from daily bars: OSIS sits at $209.79, the 10.9th percentile of its 52-week range ($197–$312, 33% below the 52w high of $311.72), with RSI(14) at 41.4 and price below MA20 ($215.58), MA50 ($216.25), and MA200 ($257.53). Institutional LEAPS buying into a sustained drawdown in a defense/security contractor (OSI Systems, $4.7B mkt cap, government inspection systems) is precisely what the UOA thesis predicts — the kind of business where procurement-cycle positioning precedes announcements. Loser-pattern checks: no catalyst requirement is by design for UOA (66–86% unknown-catalyst rate across all outcomes); prior matured OSIS picks (three from upgrade_prediction: +4.46%, +9.40%, +6.66%) show no bidirectional whipsaw; no biotech binary risk. Concerns: individual RVOL on streak days 4–6 fell to 2.87–3.29x (below the 4x sweet spot), though streak average of 4.74x qualifies; Q4 FY2026 earnings (fiscal year ends June 30, likely August 2026 release) may fall within the 20-day hold window, though the spec's earnings_exit_days=5 manages this; ticker-block permutation p=0.058 is a structural play-level concern. Rising conviction from first fire (0.75, streak 4d) to this confirming fire (0.875, streak 6d) is a quality indicator. Forward matured n is too thin to evaluate; load-bearing validation is spec PF 1.56 (robust floor ex-top-5 tickers) to PF 3.98 (full OOS), n=140, perm p=0.017 — two threads agree, one strong and one independent.
#2 GGB BUY Mature
Gerdau S.A.
$6.8B · 52w $2.86–$5.06 (+0.6%)
signal: options flow → position: equity
Entered 2026-07-13
$4.58
Now $5.09
uoa_slow_build Validated
3 fires · 1 distinct play · LLM 68 · CE +0.2% / 20d · n52
Exit due now last fire 20d ago · 20d hold
review 73 · 2026-08-03
+11.14%
held 22d
GGB (Gerdau SA ~$6.8B Brazilian steel ADR) carries a 5-day UOA streak from 2026-07-06: avg RVOL 4.62x, call_pct 96.6%, LEAPS pct 94.4% — all well above entry thresholds and in the streak≥4 sub-cell (phase_2_audit OOS PF 6.51 n=49 vs 4.37 for streak≥3). Thread 1 is the UOA flow signal itself; the play's load-bearing backtest is PF alpha 2.63 (BH q=0.0038), OOS PF alpha 3.86 (n=52); live matured n=46 tracks above at mean +6.0%, WR 61%, PF proxy ~3.8. Thread 2 (partially independent): on 2026-07-10, total OI grew +92 contracts (leaps_call_oi 5769→5854) — first net accumulation after 3+ weeks of flat/declining OI, indicating new positions opened, not day-trading churn. Thread 3 (independent, equity bars): RSI recovered from oversold 33-37 (early July) to 57.4 today; stock up 10.6% in 5 days from $4.06 to $4.50, at 80.9% of 52w range ($2.85–$4.89) with 8.7% to 52w high. The streak PRECEDED the equity move (started at $4.28 on Jul 6), consistent with the informed-flow lead-then-follow thesis. No catalyst flag applies (uoa_slow_build is a pure-technical play; unknown catalyst is by design). Sub-$5 underlying is not a deflator per v1.6.0 re-validation (price floor removed after broader-universe sweep showed it subtracts edge). No earnings trap, no biotech binary. Conviction escalated 0.50→0.75 over the 4-day refire interval. Three threads (one strong UOA, one partial OI build, one independent equity RSI/momentum) support a MED score.

Pipeline (1) · picks from Emerging-tier plays

Picks from plays still in the Emerging tier — validated in backtest, now accumulating a live forward sample. They publish in real time with the same audit trail, columns, and track-record treatment as every other pick, but they are the pipeline, not the headline product: a play graduates to the flagship book above only when its forward evidence clears the promotion gates.

Ticker / company
Bought / now
Plays that fired
Freshness
Return
#3 TRMB BUY Mature
Trimble Inc. · Measuring & Controlling Devices, Nec
$15.3B · 52w $48.87–$84.47 (-29.3%)
signal: OI accumulation → position: equity
Entered 2026-07-16
$53.44
Now $59.76
institutional_oi_build Emerging
2 fires · 1 distinct play · LLM 65 · CE Pending
~1d to auto-exit last fire 19d ago · 20d hold
review 76 · 2026-07-30
+11.83%
held 19d
Three independent threads for TRMB. Thread 1 (options flow): score 13/17, call_pct averaging 87.1% over the 3-day qualifying streak (Jul 13–15), vw_otm 77.5% (deep-OTM positioning), delta_dollars $868K today with mean $1.47M/day on all qualifying sessions past 4 weeks, and OI +9.8% over 15 days (17,122→18,794 after a June 18 unwind reset the chain — the rebuild into rising OI is the signal). Thread 2 (pre-earnings calendar, independent): d2e=14, squarely in the spec-validated d2e 0–14d bucket (n=42, WR 71.4%, PF 3.56, avg +11.45% at 10d, perm p=0.0064 on broader cohort); hold-through-earnings explicitly validated (earnings_exit_days=0), so this is a real independent booster, not an IV trap. Thread 3 (price structure): TRMB at 10.1% of its 52-week range ($47.92–$87.50), RSI 45.7 recovering from oversold 33–34 in late June; prior TRMB fire on 2026-06-15 returned +1.87% at 10d and +3.34% at 20d. Meaningful deflators pull this to low-MED: LEAPS% 69.4% is in the weakest LEAPS bucket (leaps_pts=0; spec: 30-50% optimal at PF 2.59, 70%+ lowest at PF 1.42); streak is at the T+3 minimum (T+6+ bucket has PF 9.02 vs T+3-5 combined PF 1.49); score=13 is the worst alpha bin in the intra-cohort calibration note (mean alpha −6.1% vs +10.9% at score=10); RVOL=0.66 (<1.3x) shows no equity-volume confirmation of the options accumulation.
Provisional (1) — single fires from playbook-eligible plays, watching for confirmation

Single fires of second_fire plays — preliminary signals, not yet held. A confirming second fire on the same ticker (any play) promotes them to Open. If none arrives within the hold window, the signal closes to the Track Record. See docs/POSITION_MODEL.md.

Ticker / company
Bought / now
Play
State
Return
NWSA BUY
News Corporation Class A
Entered 2026-07-28
$28.22
Now $28.57
uoa_slow_build Validated
provisional
~13d window
+1.24%
since signal · day 7

Track record

Closed positions only — one row per ticker per continuous holding period. Re-fires within 20 days are rolled into the same position. Entry / exit prices recomputed from raw market bars.

Validation backtest · out-of-sample, per play

The methodology's edge is established by out-of-sample backtest, per play — there is no single blended figure. Live forward (below) is a sanity check: the published track record is still thin (since 2026-05-08).

PlayStatusPFWinsignificance
Quiet Institutional Options Accumulation Validated 1.25 59% p=0.008
Institutional Position Building Emerging 2.18 58% p=0.003
Small-Cap AI & Defense Momentum Emerging 1.80 48% p=0.003
Live forward · published MED/HIGH BUYs · since 2026-05-08 n 18 72% win PF 3.67 +6.4% mean — small sample, sanity check only
Closed equity positions — track record
Data correction · 2026-07-29 A vendor data artifact — our options feed carried each contract's last traded day forward, so on quiet chains one real print echoed as a multi-day volume "streak" — let 13 uoa_slow_build picks published Jun 1 – Jul 28 fire on phantom volume streaks. We don't rewrite history: they stay in this record at their real entry and exit prices, marked ⚠, and they are still counted in the statistics above — as it happens they ran better than the rest of the book, so removing them would flatter us, not the reverse. Subtract the ⚠ rows to read the record without them. The ingestion bug was fixed and the historical data repaired on 2026-07-29 (decision log DEC-2026-07-29-004); the NWSA position, still inside its entry window when the artifact was found, was closed flat the next day.
Top winners
PSNL
Personalis, Inc.
2026-05-14
$6.52
uoa_slow_build
+50.1%
ICUI
ICU Medical Inc
2026-05-12
$122.25
uoa_slow_build
+16.9%
NSIT
Insight Enterprises Inc
2026-05-20
$90.80
uoa_slow_build
+16.8%
LAES
SEALSQ Corp Ordinary Shares
2026-05-19
$2.73
institutional_oi_build
+14.5%
LNN
Lindsay Corporation
2026-05-14
$105.82
uoa_slow_build
+13.9%
Top losers
ASM
Avino Silver & Gold Mines L...
2026-07-01
$6.59
institutional_oi_build
-19.1%
ICL
ICL Group
2026-05-13
$6.58
uoa_slow_build
-12.9%
TDS
Telephone and Data Systems
2026-06-01
$39.27
uoa_slow_build
-5.5%
OUT
OUTFRONT Media
2026-07-01
$32.84
uoa_slow_build
-3.0%
SGRY
Surgery Partners, Inc.
2026-07-08
$16.53
uoa_slow_build
-2.8%
Show all 18 closed positions (filterable)
Filter: All Winners Losers
Ticker
Entered
Exited
Plays that fired
Return
PSNL
Personalis, Inc.
2026-05-14
$6.52
2026-06-03
$9.79
uoa_slow_build
+50.15%
ICUI
ICU Medical Inc
2026-05-12
$122.25
2026-06-01
$142.86
uoa_slow_build
+16.86%
NSIT
Insight Enterprises Inc
2026-05-20
$90.80
2026-06-09
$106.09
uoa_slow_build
+16.84%
LAES
SEALSQ Corp Ordinary Shares
2026-05-19
$2.73
2026-06-08
$3.12
institutional_oi_build
+14.50%
LNN
Lindsay Corporation
2026-05-14
$105.82
2026-06-14
$120.53
uoa_slow_build
+13.90%
WSBC
WesBanco Inc
2026-06-15
$36.70
2026-07-05
$41.18
uoa_slow_build
+12.21%
HWC
Hancock Whitney Corporation
2026-06-08
$69.72
2026-06-30
$75.94
uoa_slow_build
+8.92%
DCH
Dauch Corporation
2026-07-06
$5.41
2026-07-28
$5.80
institutional_oi_build uoa_slow_build
+7.21%
BNL
Broadstone Net Lease
2026-06-29
$20.70
2026-07-19
$22.15
uoa_slow_build
+7.00%
KSPI
Joint Stock Company Kaspi.kz American Depository Shares
2026-06-17
$83.31
2026-07-07
$88.15
uoa_slow_build
+5.81%
SBLK
Star Bulk Carriers
2026-06-18
$25.81
2026-07-08
$26.68
uoa_slow_build
+3.37%
TEL
TE Connectivity plc
2026-07-01
$201.44
2026-07-21
$205.69
uoa_slow_build
+2.11%
ABG
Asbury Automotive Group
2026-05-11
$197.63
2026-05-31
$198.13
uoa_slow_build
+0.25%
SGRY
Surgery Partners, Inc.
2026-07-08
$16.53
2026-07-30
$16.06
uoa_slow_build
-2.84%
OUT
OUTFRONT Media
2026-07-01
$32.84
2026-07-21
$31.87
uoa_slow_build
-2.95%
TDS
Telephone and Data Systems
2026-06-01
$39.27
2026-06-21
$37.09
uoa_slow_build
-5.55%
ICL
ICL Group
2026-05-13
$6.58
2026-06-02
$5.73
uoa_slow_build
-12.92%
ASM
Avino Silver & Gold Mines Ltd. (Canada)
2026-07-01
$6.59
2026-07-21
$5.33
institutional_oi_build
-19.12%

Recently exited (2)

Positions the system closed mechanically within the last 5 trading days. Final move is realized at the exit close. Cradle-to-grave audit trail — every BUY broadcast has a symmetric CLOSE.

2 recently exited positions
Ticker
Entered → Closed
Plays
Days held
Return
Why closed
SGRY
Surgery Partners, Inc.
Services-General Medical & Surgical Hospitals, Nec
2026-07-08 → 2026-07-30
uoa_slow_build ×3
22
-2.84%
Hold horizon reached
DCH
Dauch Corporation
Motor Vehicle Parts & Accessories
2026-07-06 → 2026-07-28
institutional_oi_build uoa_slow_build ×2
22
+7.21%
Hold horizon reached

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