The three-A grid

Every setup is graded on three independent criteria: the level, the trigger, the asymmetry. Three A's, full size. Two A's, half size. A single A, no trade. A setup's grade is that of its weakest criterion, and when you hesitate over a grade, it is a B. This grid is the centerpiece of the course: the twelve setups that follow are only ways of filling it in.

Structural level, conventional level

Two kinds of levels enter A1, and they do not hold for the same reason. A structural level is a real position that will have to be hedged or executed: a GEX (MM) bar, a 150-lot wall, an iceberg. A conventional level holds because everyone is looking at it: the most traded strike, a call wall computed on volume, a round number, a VAH. A complete A1 brings the two together at the same price. A conventional level alone is worth a B, even when it looks pretty: nothing defends it when the flow insists.