A daily long-only confirmation stack on the tether line

One procedure for entry, hold, and exit

The archive describes a mechanical-long-procedure for end-of-day long equity trades. It is built to keep a long open through an extended favorable move and to close it as soon as the rules say the move has failed, without trying to locate tops or bottoms.

The core price line is the tether-line: half the sum of the highest high and lowest low of the last 50 periods. Prices are described as clustering around that midpoint and returning to it. A close crossing above the tether-line is the long trigger. A close crossing below it is the long exit. After a long is open, the same line is the trailing-tether-stop: hold while the close stays above it and leave when the close crosses below.

Why the tether-line needs confirmation

The midpoint crossover by itself is shown to produce repeated whipsaws, so extra filters are required before a buy is taken.

The volume-oscillator is a seven-period simple average of volume signed by the open-to-close relationship. Volume is signed positive when the close is above the open, negative when the close is below the open, and zero when they are equal. That average must be positive when the close crosses above the tether-line. The signed-volume construction is presented as an on-balance-volume-analogy: accumulate volume according to the direction of the bar. The archive uses this reading only as confirmation of buying pressure, not as a standalone entry.

The third filter is mbo, which subtracts a 200-period simple moving average of the close from a 25-period simple moving average of the close. Today’s value must exceed yesterday’s before a long is considered. That requirement is intended to block entries during volatile swings or consolidation.

After the three mechanical conditions agree, a company-level fundamental review is still required before the long is taken.

Where the rules are specified to apply

The rules are specified for end-of-day long equity trades only. They are not specified for futures, fixed-income instruments, or short sales. Other bar lengths were not tested.

The procedure is applied only to a large-cap equity index membership, on the stated premise that those names trend more consistently than a broader universe.