Master Guide
Manual workflows for entering and exiting positions with alpie — what to run, in what order, and the
gotchas that will bite you if a step is skipped or a command is misread.
A1 — Intraday
Scalp / fade WITHIN today's already-formed structure. Loops run continuously; you're not building a new thesis.
1
Session context. decode intraday SYMBOL --benchmark SPY — session beta/lead-lag
and the Session Vol Gauge (how much of today's implied move is already used). For the SPY/QQQ tape itself use
etf indices, not market (that command covers sectors only).
2
Structure. decode gex SYMBOL — below the flip zone, dealers are short gamma and
moves amplify (favors momentum continuation); above it, moves dampen (favors a fade).
Note
decode bias is prior-day OI, not live intraday flow — use it for context only, not as a live read.
3
Size & stop — before anything else. calc risk SYMBOL --dollars N --risk low
(repo default is low). Establish size and a volatility-based stop now, not after entry.
4
Start the monitoring loops — run continuously, don't one-shot these:
calc flipzone SYMBOL --persist — GEX slope / hedging velocity, STABLE / CAUTION / SQUEEZE / VOLATILE / REVERSALdecode levels SYMBOL --monitor --interval 30 — alerts on confluence-score changedecode squeeze SYMBOL --monitor --interval 30 — only meaningful once a morning --scan baseline exists
5
Entry — pick one path, not both.
- Tape/OBI:
smart check SYMBOL → smart buy/sell SYMBOL --dollars N --persist [--momentum-exit]
(--momentum-exit requires --persist)
- AMT:
smart amt SYMBOL --test first, then drop --test to go live.
Fading an excess high: smart fade SYMBOL --test first.
Danger
smart amt / smart fade score AND execute in one command. Always run with
--test first. smart fade SYMBOL without --short, run live while you're
long that symbol, will SELL to flatten the position — it does not open a new short.
6
Manage. Watch the loops from step 4 — a wall or flip-zone crossing means tighten or exit.
7
Exit. smart amt /
smart fade auto-flatten at 15:55 ET. A tape-path
position does not — flatten manually with
smart sell before close unless deliberately carrying into swing.
Caution
smart protect is a two-way state machine (HOLDING ↔ FLAT), not a one-way exit — it can
re-enter automatically if price reclaims a level, and it has no end-of-day flatten of its own.
A2 — Day Trading
One thesis, formed before the open. A single deliberate entry, not a scalp loop.
1
Pre-market gate. screen SYMBOL (CLEAR/HALT), brief SYMBOL,
assess SYMBOL. Optionally forecast for sector rotation lean — its own help labels
this BETA/experimental, historical frequencies only.
2
Same-day options structure. decode xdte SYMBOL — the real 0/1/2 DTE tool
(max pain, call/put wall, gamma wall); it degrades gracefully to 1/2 DTE if nothing expires today. Add
decode gex SYMBOL for full-chain context.
Caution
Don't use decode dex --dte 0 here — it's same-day-expiry-only and errors out on most
non-SPY/QQQ names most days, and its peaks are holder-side, explicitly not dealer walls.
3
Trend & forward range. decode trend SYMBOL, decode vol SYMBOL
(forward 1σ range for the day).
4
Size & stop. calc risk SYMBOL --dollars N --risk low.
5
Entry. smart check SYMBOL once open noise settles, then
smart buy/sell SYMBOL --dollars N --persist [--opg].
Note
smart buy auto-runs a 04:00–09:30 ET premarket gate that can itself WAIT/SKIP your
order (a BEAR+BEAR reading opens the order, BULL+BULL skips it) — a gate block is not a broken command.
6
Manage. decode levels SYMBOL --monitor for a midday check.
7
Exit. Flat by close — no default auto-flatten on the tape path. smart protect
(same two-way caveat as A1) or smart sell --momentum-exit. Post-mortem with
snapshot SYMBOL — not --daily, which is the wrong flag for reviewing a single session.
A3 — Swing
Days to weeks. Structure and sizing come from a slower, statistically-grounded read — not the current session's tape.
1
Populate the benchmark cache first. benchmark SYMBOL — evaluate
needs this cached or it silently drops that layer.
2
Regime & research flag. decode trend SYMBOL,
regime SYMBOL,
evaluate buy SYMBOL (or
sell).
Note
evaluate is a research flag, not a signal — validated: ~19% vs ~15% baseline chance of a
≥5% drawdown on a SELL flag over 10 days, mean/median return roughly a wash. Not designed for intraday use.
3
Size, stop, and backtest it — before entry. calc vol SYMBOL,
calc risk SYMBOL --dollars N --risk low, calc prob SYMBOL --targets T1,T2 --stop S,
optionally simulate SYMBOL --from ... --stop-loss 2z to backtest a z-score trailing stop, and
account risk for portfolio-level concentration.
4
Weeks-out options structure. decode gex SYMBOL (full chain),
decode piv SYMBOL for entry-level selection,
decode squeeze SYMBOL if relevant,
greeks SYMBOL if expressing via options.
Caution
decode piv's backtest is a 3-day hold-rate statistic, not a weeks-out one — use it to
pick an entry level, not as a multi-week target.
5
Catalyst / news risk. decode earnings SYMBOL — is a print inside your hold
window? brief / assess. Optionally llm SYMBOL --dry-run for a free
8-section scorecard (only the piv section is backtested — the rest are labeled point-in-time snapshots).
6
Entry. Shares: smart buy SYMBOL --dollars N --persist. Defined-risk options:
pcs SYMBOL → pcs sell SYMBOL --short K1 --long K2 --expiry ... --credit ....
7
Manage. Daily (not intraday) re-checks of decode trend / decode piv.
8
Exit. Shares:
smart sell. Options:
pcs buy SYMBOL --short K1 --long K2 --expiry ... --debit ...
to close the spread. Re-run
decode earnings before any print inside the hold.
Danger
pcs go ID OPENS a position — it does not close one, and its cached id expires 15 minutes
after the original analyze run anyway. Never use it to exit.
B1 — Stealth Accumulation / Silent Drift
No ticker yet. Large-cap only (≥$1B) — companies trending up quietly, before the options market has noticed.
1
drift --report (read today's cron) or
drift --cron --top N --min-score 6.
Caution
--top is only honored in --cron mode — a plain drift --top N --min-score 6 call ignores --top.
2
drift --check-oi to re-score.
Read direction
A HIGH score means the options market is still calm/hasn't noticed (low IV/HV, neutral P/C) — that's
confirmation the setup is still undiscovered, not "flow supports the drift." A falling score means the
market is starting to notice.
3
Shortlist →
decode squeeze SYMBOL →
brief /
assess →
evaluate buy SYMBOL as a final cross-check (strongest near the top of the drift rankings —
validated on large/mega-cap).
Note
Drift wants LOW IV / no squeeze fuel; squeeze wants the opposite. A name scoring high on both is a
data conflict, not a bonus.
4
Promote survivors into the
A3 Swing workflow.
Dashboard: use the Drift tab instead of re-running the CLI report repeatedly.
B2 — Gamma-Squeeze Candidate Discovery
No ticker yet. Find where the market is already structurally primed for a dealer-hedging feedback loop.
1
decode squeeze --scan (or --scan --min-score 7) — builds today's baseline;
--monitor SYMBOL --interval 30 only becomes meaningful for intraday deltas afterward.
2
scan bare — the GEX/bias/max-pain/PCR discovery grid.
Caution
Don't use scan --calls / --puts here — those are premium-selling
screens (covered calls / cash-secured puts), the trade you'd put on against a squeeze.
3
alerts --metric gex.
Note
This reads the production API, which is still on the pre-0DTE-fix version of the GEX calc — it will
disagree with a locally-run decode gex on any 0DTE name. That's expected, not a bug.
4
Cross-check
decode breadth.
Dashboard: Squeeze and Premium tabs both cover this ground visually.
5
Survivors → A1 Intraday or A2 Day Trading, depending on urgency.