The obvious alpha names are crowded. This engine found different ones.

The week at a glance

TEAM is up 26.5% from our day-45 entry. That's not a typo. We're at day 80 of this thing. The week ending October 23 finished at +10.03% on the portfolio versus SPY's -0.43% — alpha for the week: +10.46%. Cumulative alpha since inception: also +10.03%, which means SPY has given back essentially everything it gained over the same stretch we've been running. That's not a flex. It's context for what we're trying to measure here. The full picture this week: | Ticker | Engine | Entry | P&L | Alpha | Status | |--------|--------|-------|-----|-------|--------| | CRNX (×14) | Relative Strength | $83.93–$84.99 | +1.2% to -0.0% | varies | Open | | TEAM (×3) | Relative Strength | $179.86–$186.31 | +22.2% to +26.5% | +22.7% to +26.9% | Open | | HURN | Relative Strength | $158.90 | +23.2% | +23.7% | Open | | HTFL (×4) | Relative Strength | $50.35–$50.70 | +11.9% to +12.6% | +13.2% to +15.0% | Open | | RNG (×2) | Relative Strength | $77.42–$77.88 | +7.1% to +7.7% | +8.9% to +9.9% | Open | Every open position belongs to the Relative Strength Engine. The Breakout Engine didn't produce a signal that made the cut. We skipped four potential entries this week — they went to the watchlist and stayed there. The bar was right. The setups just weren't.

Trades we closed this week

There are no closed trades to recap this week. Everything is still open — and that's worth sitting with for a second. Twenty-four open positions, zero closed, which means our official win rate is displayed as 0%. Technically accurate. Also meaningfully misleading. We haven't lost on anything. We just haven't closed anything. Those are different things. The names doing the heavy lifting: TEAM, HURN, and HTFL. TEAM was first entered on September 9 at $179.86. We added twice more — September 10 at $181.65 and October 1 at $186.31. All three positions are still open, up 26.5%, 25.3%, and 22.2% respectively. The Relative Strength Engine has been in this name for 45 days on the earliest entry. We've had plenty of chances to second-guess it. We haven't. HURN went in on September 29 at $158.90. It's up 23.2% with alpha of +23.7%. Quiet name, steady move — exactly what this engine is built to find. HTFL is the most recent addition. Four entries now, ranging from October 12 through October 19, prices between $50.35 and $50.70. All four are up between +11.9% and +12.6%. The October 19 entry is only five days old and already sitting at +12.3%. That's the engine working in real time. CRNX is the long tail. Fourteen entries, the oldest going back to August 5 at $83.93. Most are up less than 1%. The earliest is up 1.22%. It's grinding — not embarrassing the portfolio, but it's not TEAM either. We're watching it. RNG, two entries on October 7 and 8, is up 7.1% and 7.7% after 16 and 17 days. Still building.

What we tuned this week

No new entries were added Friday. The four signals we skipped this week were watchlist days — the engine saw something worth flagging, but conditions didn't clear our threshold to size in. We'd rather miss a setup than force one. What we tuned this week: nothing structural. The Relative Strength Engine's parameters held. We didn't adjust stops. We didn't layer into existing positions beyond what the system already had queued. That discipline is harder than it sounds when TEAM is up 26% and the temptation to pile in is real. Heading into next week, 24 positions are open. We're not looking to add aggressively — concentration in HTFL (four entries) and CRNX (fourteen entries) already gives those names outsized weight in the book. Any new signals get evaluated on their own merit, not as a reason to trim what's working.

What we're cautious about next week

SPY dropped 0.43% this week while we went up. That divergence is the point — we're running a system designed for low market correlation. But it does raise a question worth tracking: the Relative Strength Engine has operated in a choppy-to-slightly-down environment. If the broader market finds a direction and runs hard, we need to see how it holds up in a trending tape. The CRNX concentration is the thing that keeps coming back. Fourteen entries in one name, most sitting at sub-1% gains. It's not a loss — but it's a lot of capital parked in something moving sideways. If CRNX reverses, those fourteen positions all feel it at once. The stops are set. We'll honor them. But right now, that's the spot on the book we're watching most carefully. And we still haven't closed a single trade. Every gain you see is unrealized. The track record looks clean — the positions are working, and we're not pretending otherwise — but 'open and green' and 'closed and booked' are two different things. We don't want anyone to lose track of that distinction.

Looking ahead to Monday

Day 80. Still no closed trades. The portfolio looks good on paper and we're not hiding from that — but the real test of this engine is what happens when something stops working and we have to take a loss in public. We haven't had that moment yet. It's coming. When it does, we'll write it up exactly the same way we're writing this.