Like Santa Claus in a Christmas movie, Prime Day had plenty of doubters and haters but, in the end, proved itself undeniably Real. The biggest, newest shopping event of summer got off to a slow start but ended up driving online spending in the US higher by 30% vs last year to a total of more than $24b.
We've had some great trades come out of this small-cap-focused column since we launched it back in 2020 and started rotating it with our flagship bottom-up scan, Under the Hood.
For the first year or so, we focused only on Russell 2000 stocks with a market cap between $1 and $2B.
That was fun, but we wanted to branch out a bit and allow some new stocks to find their way onto our list.
We expanded our universe to include some mid-caps.
Nowadays, to make the cut for our Minor Leaguers list, a company must have a market cap between $1 and $4B.
And it doesn't have to be a Russell component — it can be any US-listed equity. With participation expanding around the globe, we want all those ADRs in our universe.
The same price and liquidity filters are applied. Then, as always, we sort by proximity to new...
I’ve said this before, and I’ll say it again: I never really know which trades are going to be my biggest winners.
Sure, sometimes I get a setup that checks all the boxes:
Price action looks great
volume confirms
sentiment is lined up
and I feel like I’ve got a winner on my hands
But more often than not, those aren’t the trades that end up paying me the most.
The ones that really work? They usually sneak up on me. Quiet names. Unexpected moves. Ones I nearly talked myself out of. Which is why I’ve learned—through many hard lessons—to keep my size consistent.
This is one of the most important forms of discipline I’ve developed as a trader: Treating every trade the same.
Same sizing. Same process. Same rules.
Whether I’ve got massive conviction or mild curiosity, I try to keep the structure tight and the exposure sane.
Why? Because the alternative is a psychological nightmare.
If I go all-in on a trade I’ve hyped up in my head, and it turns out to be dead wrong? I don’t just lose money—I lose mental capital.
I then second-guess myself. I hesitate on the next trade. I spin into...
I've been loving how this boring utility space name has been consolidating near all-time highs since February. Most people have probably been bored to tears if they've been in it. Longs are comfortable, shorts are asleep. Great.
With earnings coming up later this month, I think we've got the catalyst we need to surprise people and see this stock breakout. I want to get a head start...
A few months ago, apparel manufacturers were left for dead.
After Trump’s so-called Liberation Day, tariffs slammed into the industry, especially those with deep exposure to Asia.
Vietnam, a core manufacturing hub for much of the apparel world, became ground zero for investor anxiety. Stocks cratered.
But after months of selling, the group is finding its footing.
Now, with policy risk priced in and demand trends stabilizing, we’re finally seeing signs of life.
Many of these companies were caught flat-footed by the tariff spike, burdened by fragile supply chains and razor-thin margins. Gross margins collapsed as import costs ballooned.
But a shift is underway.
Apparel manufacturers have been aggressively diversifying their sourcing strategies and pivoting toward direct-to-consumer (DTC) channels. These DTC models come with higher margins, better customer data, and more pricing power.
Add in margin tailwinds from easing input costs and improving channel mix, and you’ve got the ingredients for a significant reversal.
That’s precisely what we’re seeing now, both on the charts and in the...
Every day, we sift through the filings to spot where the real conviction lies – cutting through the noise to highlight the most meaningful insider moves.
Here's what stood out today:
📌 Rocket Companies $RKT – VA Partners I, LLC lifted its 13D stake from 7.73% to 8.90%.
That’s real size in a name that's been left for dead by most of the Street. Activist positioning is getting even more aggressive in mortgage finance.
📌 Cogent Biosciences $COGT – James Flynn filed an initial 13G at 6.49%.
James Flynn buying into a biotech name is one of the strongest “smart money” signals you can get in the space.
Here’s The Hot Corner, with data from July 11, 2025:
13 of the 19 key risk ratios now favor the Risk-On asset, up from just nine last month.
Here’s the chart:
Let's break down what the chart shows:
This chart plots 19 different Risk-On vs. Risk-Off ratios, showing where each currently sits within its 52-week range.
The x-axis shows each ratio’s position within its 1-year range (0% = Risk-Off, 100% = Risk-On).
Risk-Off assets are listed on the left, their Risk-On counterparts on the right.
Black diamonds show current levels.
Grey triangles mark where they stood one month ago.
The Takeaway: The weight of evidence has shifted toward Risk-On.
With 13 of the 19 Risk-On/Risk-Off ratios now above the midpoint of their 52-week range — meaning the Risk-On side is leading — and 18 showing upward momentum over the past month, the shift is clear and widespread.
This isn’t just a few speculative names catching a bid. It’s a coordinated rotation across style, sector, asset class, and region.
Every weekend, I dive into our insider activity tracker looking for the most interesting and bullish buys — and this week, we had a handful of Wall Street titans hit our list… as well as more activity in biotech.
Here’s the most notable activity:
Point72 Asset Management, led by Steve Cohen, increased their stake in Celldex Therapeutics $CLDX from 3.95% to 6.70%.
That’s a major step up — and it comes after a string of bullish biotech activity in recent weeks.
Carl Icahn boosted his position in Centuri Holdings $CTRI, going from 6.02% to 7.22%.
He’s already a known activist — and when he adds to a position, it’s rarely passive.
Over in entertainment, Discovery Capital Management just re-established a 6.80% stake in AMC $AMC.
Technically not an original filing — but they dumped this name at year-end 2024 and now they’...
I loaded up on the $BIDU 9/19 $100 calls and added exposure through the $KC 8/15 $15 calls.
These setups look powerful, and if we see a bid in Chinese stocks, I want to be in front of it.
They moved against us as soon as we got in. That hurts in the case of KC but doesn’t affect the BIDU position much. We went further out than usual and higher delta on BIDU. All that really means in my mind is a lower risk/reward… or a more conservative trade.
At the same time, I went back to the well on $SMCI.
Last week delivered powerful moves across several overlooked corners of the market — from hotel stocks quietly breaking out, to Canadian equities ripping to new highs alongside record Copper prices.
With S&P 500 earnings activity still limited, we’ve used this quieter stretch to surface the setups that matter most — names showing leadership, resilience, or quietly staging major reversals.
We’ll walk through the most important developments from the past week and spotlight a few earnings events that could set the tone as Q3 gets underway.
There weren't any S&P 500 earnings reactions, but the hotel industry continues to shine. The Hotel ETF $BEDZ is printing fresh multi-month highs versus the S&P 500, logging its first overbought momentum reading since November.
Marriott International $MAR is leading the charge. Last quarter, it delivered a double beat and snapped a 6-quarter streak of negative...
Welcome back for another Top Down Trade of the Week.
This is a classic leadership scan.
We start with the best sectors, then drill into the subgroups. We pick one, and then take a look at the top stocks in it.
This week’s standout is Materials, holding steady at the number four spot in our sector rankings.
It’s not the first time we’ve highlighted Materials since we began publishing this scan. Strength has been quietly building under the surface for a while now.
Just last week, $XLB posted its best relative performance versus the broader market in over five years.
I'm open to the idea of a big rotation into cyclicals in the back half of this year.
Here is a look at our overall industry rankings, which shows...
Metals are on the move this week — and in a big way.
Silver, Copper, Palladium, Platinum… All printing fresh breakouts at the same time.
Gold kicked things off last year. It’s been stair-stepping higher for months, leading the charge. But recently, it’s cooled off — and now the rest of the complex is following suit.
Silver’s breaking out from a massive base and pushing into territory we haven’t seen in over 13 years.
We think 50 is on the table — and it could get there fast.
Copper’s part of this conversation too. Always has been.
We don’t call it Dr. Copper for nothing — it’s a key read on growth and the global economy.
And this week? It just logged its best single-day gain in history.
Big moves like this usually mean one of two things:
I took profits today in a Bull Call Spread on Robinhood ($HOOD). The trade was working, the options didn’t expire until January, and price action was moving in my favor… so why close it now?
Let me walk you through it.
I put the trade on June 2nd: a January 70/100 call spread, paying $6.25 for the setup. Today, just 29 days later, I closed it for $17.05:
Now, the most this spread could be worth at expiration is $30. So technically, I left some money on the table. If I held all the way through to January, I mighthave doubled my profits from here.
But that would mean tying up my capital for another 170+ days.
Instead, I walked away with a 172% gain in less than a month. Not bad, right?
Here’s the thing with Bull Call Spreads: once both strikes are in the money early, and the trade has made a big move in your favor, you’re in a situation where the upside is capped and the risk of giving it all back starts creeping in.
That’s not a combo I love sitting in for long.
If this had been a long call with unlimited upside? Maybe I’d let it ride. But with capped profit potential and the bulk of...