The Bid & Ask

Quotations, Dispatches, and the Daily Tape

Thursday, August 13, 2026

Short-term play

Coil-breakout

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.

After a strong rally the name pauses in a narrow range on shrinking volume, holding close to the highs. Stored energy for the next leg up.

Recommended position

Structure
Long 100 % strike call · short 110 % strike call · 60 days to expiry
Take profit
Close at +100 % of capital at risk
Stop loss
Close at −50 % of capital at risk
Expected per trade
Validated on the coil-breakout cohort: convex right-tail; ~2× more likely to produce a +20 % move than a matched control day. See research/coil_breakout_options.py.
Thesis
Tight quiet base near the highs after a sharp run. The market is wound up; a debit call spread captures the directional breakout while bounding cost.
Filters:
Show columns:
SymbolLastLimit -0.5%SectorThrust gainCoil rangeCoil vol ratioOff rally high
MLKN$24.03$23.91Cons. Discr.50.3%8.9%+0.341.9%
breakout 24.49coil low 22.48 13.6519.3325.01Apr 7Jun 10Aug 13
long 24.03 short 26.43 Break-even ~24.75
Cost$96
Max win$144
Stop loss−$48
MAN$56.22$55.94Industrials78.3%9.1%+0.340.7%
breakout 56.60coil low 51.88 24.2842.5260.75Apr 7Jun 10Aug 13
long 56.22 short 61.84 Break-even ~57.91
Cost$225
Max win$337
Stop loss−$112

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
2026-03-23YOU$53.46-8.2 %-1.6 %+9.2 %
2026-03-17VAL$97.28+0.7 %+0.8 %-5.8 %
2026-02-25FORM$105.83-12.5 %-13.2 %+2.1 %
2026-02-25VIAV$30.85+5.6 %-2.5 %+20.8 %
2026-02-24VIAV$29.13+13.4 %+2.0 %+23.4 %
2026-01-12SATS$126.07-3.2 %-0.2 %-8.2 %
2026-01-06ALB$158.15+11.8 %+13.9 %+6.6 %
2026-01-06QDEL$32.50+2.5 %-9.5 %-9.8 %
2025-11-24RCUS$23.18+9.7 %+8.2 %-2.0 %
2025-10-29WDC$141.38+13.2 %+17.5 %+11.6 %
2025-10-28INTC$41.53-10.8 %-8.8 %-13.7 %
2025-10-23LUMN$7.79+32.7 %+40.4 %-4.0 %
2025-10-01RUN$18.35+5.7 %+16.0 %+9.6 %
2025-09-09ALNY$482.13-4.3 %-5.7 %-4.7 %
2025-09-05RUN$18.18-11.7 %-8.8 %+5.1 %
2025-08-26VSAT$30.80-4.2 %-5.4 %-7.5 %
2025-08-04VSAT$20.28+26.0 %+35.1 %+53.0 %
2025-07-31VSAT$16.43+59.6 %+66.5 %+98.0 %
2025-07-23FWRD$30.45+1.1 %-1.8 %-8.7 %
2025-06-30LIF$65.25-1.2 %+4.9 %+16.3 %

Scanner refreshed 2026-08-12. 2 matches.