Stop Hunter

You know this person

The market-maker who watches positioning, not price. The trader who knows that a coiled range with crowded books isn't a chart pattern — it's a trap waiting to spring. The one who sits out the obvious trend and waits for the weekend, when liquidity thins and both sides have parked their stops at the same fences.

In character

Patient, then violent. Sits in his cage all week. The board doesn't see him; the cast doesn't mention him; the leaderboard doesn't carry him. Then the conditions align — weekend, tight coil, open interest building, longs and shorts piling in on both sides — and he appears on the field. Takes the crowded side's stops. Vanishes when the level breaks or holds.

Strategy

1. Deploy gate: weekend AND coiled (range <4% of mid over 30h) AND OI building (+1% over the window).
2. Trade gate: open opposite the crowded side at the range extreme (within 15% of the edge half).
3. Size: 50% of equity at 3× leverage. One position at a time.
4. Cooldown: 30 minutes between shots to prevent immediate re-fire after a stop-out.
5. Exit: close when price reverts past the range mid OR the deploy gate releases (controller flattens).
6. Lifecycle: regime-driven appear and retire. No fixed lifespan. 14-day safety-net failsafe.

What this archetype teaches

• ·Where the stops are stacked is more useful information than where price is going.
• ·Theatricality is in the timing, not the pose. Show up when the regime demands it; vanish when it doesn't.
• ·The market always pays the side that was wrong, not the side that was right.