The Bid & Ask

Quotations, Dispatches, and the Daily Tape

Thursday, August 13, 2026

Short-term play

Bullish divergence

Names matching setups historically tied to large short-term moves. Not portfolio recommendations — short-term trades are catalyst-driven and only a fraction work out.

Price made a new pivot low recently, but RSI, MACD, or OBV printed a HIGHER reading than at the prior swing low. Momentum is diverging from price — typically a sign the selling pressure is exhausting. Works across regimes, amplifies in elevated VIX.

Recommended position

Structure
Long 100 % strike call · short 115 % strike call · 30 days to expiry
Take profit
Close at +100 % of capital at risk
Stop loss
Close at −50 % of capital at risk
Expected per trade
+54 % mean over capital at risk, 70 % hit rate, Sharpe 0.71 (validation across 149k simulated trades).
Thesis
Momentum divergence at a swing low has signalled a bounce in every OOS year tested. The debit call spread captures the directional move with bounded premium — naked calls work too (similar mean) but the spread has the cleanest risk-adjusted return.
Important note
Validation IV proxy is HV30 × 1.30. Real-trade entry IV varies; adjust strikes to listed prices. Hit rate is high but tail-loss is real — the −50 % stop will fire roughly 25-30 % of the time historically.
Show columns:
SymbolLastSectorDivergence kindDays since pivotOff 1-year highOscillator lift
PATK$86.76Cons. Discr.+2.00+8.00-43.4%+0.38
80.62101.82123.02Apr 7Jun 10Aug 13
long 86.76 short 99.77 Break-even ~91.97
Cost$521
Max win$781
Stop loss−$260
LEN$85.20Cons. Discr.+2.00+8.00-42.2%+0.94
81.1888.3995.61Apr 7Jun 10Aug 13
long 85.20 short 97.98 Break-even ~90.31
Cost$511
Max win$767
Stop loss−$256
MBC$9.21Cons. Discr.+2.00+9.00-41.0%+0.02
6.608.5410.47Apr 7Jun 10Aug 13
long 9.21 short 10.59 Break-even ~9.76
Cost$55
Max win$83
Stop loss−$28
ORA$113.40Utilities+2.00+10.00-35.0%+2.95
91.79119.72147.64Apr 7Jun 10Aug 13
long 113.40 short 130.41 Break-even ~120.20
Cost$680
Max win$1,021
Stop loss−$340

Recent triggers

The last 20 historical fires of this setup on US names with adequate liquidity, sorted newest first. Forward-return columns show how the stock moved in the days after each fire.

Date Symbol Entry +5 days +10 days +20 days
2026-03-13TMO$464.37+2.2 %+1.9 %+10.7 %
2026-03-12AJG$204.21+2.7 %+3.0 %+4.6 %
2026-03-12ARES$96.50+11.9 %+11.8 %+4.1 %
2026-03-12BMI$144.30+2.8 %+4.8 %+7.6 %
2026-03-12BSX$68.55+2.0 %+2.4 %-9.9 %
2026-03-12BX$102.12+11.1 %+7.4 %+12.4 %
2026-03-12CBRE$131.84+1.0 %+2.3 %+7.1 %
2026-03-12CG$45.31+5.3 %+3.2 %+4.4 %
2026-03-12CWK$11.89+2.0 %+1.5 %+11.2 %
2026-03-12DUOL$94.92+4.9 %+3.4 %-5.2 %
2026-03-12EVR$267.19+2.9 %+6.6 %+26.5 %
2026-03-12HLNE$94.23+7.2 %+3.5 %-2.1 %
2026-03-12LYFT$12.95+3.3 %+0.3 %+2.2 %
2026-03-12MC$51.38+5.0 %+7.9 %+22.7 %
2026-03-12MS$154.37+2.7 %+5.7 %+15.1 %
2026-03-12NAVI$8.06+0.6 %+2.1 %-1.5 %
2026-03-12PEN$334.99+0.7 %+0.4 %-1.6 %
2026-03-12PJT$129.05+1.2 %+7.9 %+17.0 %
2026-03-12POOL$204.12+0.1 %-1.5 %+5.3 %
2026-03-12RGEN$113.76+3.4 %+0.6 %+5.6 %

Scanner refreshed 2026-08-12. 4 matches.