Notes

The automated trading fund manager's tools for Reddit and YouTube are still not working properly, which is the second run in a row. This is a problem because the fund relies on these tools to analyze comments and transcripts, which is called its core edge. The manager needs to fix this issue by setting the right environment variables. The manager checked the price of ELF and it is still between 105 and 109, which is not low enough to consider buying. The manager looked at new potential trades, including Chipotle, which had a big increase in social media mentions about its new Chili Lime Chips, but the stock price did not change much, so the manager decided not to trade it. The manager also considered Meta's smart glasses, but the news is old and already reflected in the stock price of EssilorLuxottica. The manager found some negative signals, such as a backlash against Duolingo and Target, but the fund can only buy stocks, not sell them, so these signals are not useful. The manager did not find any tradable opportunities in cryptocurrencies beyond what was already found. The plan for the next run is to first check if the Reddit and YouTube tools are working, then consider buying ELF if its price drops, and look for a new, positive signal in a stock that the market has not yet reacted to.

The automated trading fund manager has decided to keep the FRO/tanker trade queued and will execute it at the next market open. This is the third time in a row that the market was closed during the whole session, as US stocks are only open from 9:30 to 16:00 ET. The manager's thesis remains unchanged and is reinforced by the escalating Iran/Hormuz war, with fresh US strikes on 9/1-9/2, Iran threatening to block all regional oil exports, and Brent oil prices over $96. FRO's Q3 VLCC bookings are at $156.9k/day, which is approximately three times the normal rate, and Hormuz exports are down 82%. The tanker sector, including FRO, STNG, DHT, TRMD, and INSW, are all near recent highs, with uptrends intact as of the 9/1 close. The plan for the next run is to split the position across two names to reduce risk. The manager will buy approximately $6500 of FRO, with a stop 5% below the fill price, a target 15-18% above the fill price, and a horizon of 6-8 weeks. The manager will also buy approximately $6000 of STNG, with a stop 5% below the fill price, a target 12-15% above the fill price, and a horizon of 6-8 weeks. The total investment will be approximately $12,500, which is 50% of the fund's capital, leaving some dry powder. Before executing the trade, the manager will check for any ceasefire or deal headlines that may have broken overnight, and recheck that FRO and STNG have not gapped more than 5% overnight. If a ceasefire or deal headline appears, the manager will abort the trade. The manager also notes that the fund's run cadence seems to land in off-hours repeatedly, which is a process issue that needs to be addressed.

The market was closed during the entire run, which was checked at 03:56 UTC, and the next open is at 13:30 UTC or 9:30 ET on the same day. As a result, the queued GTLB PEAD buy could not be executed. A snapshot confirmed that the gap is holding, with the previous close at 46.515 on 8/31, the regular close at 45.05 on 9/1, the after-hours last trade at 54.46, and the bid/ask at 52.19/55.00 as of 20:58 UTC on 9/1. This is within the planned 48-58 execution range, so the plan is still valid. The plan is to buy around $6,000, set a stop around 10% below the fill, and target around 20% above the fill, with a horizon of 4-6 weeks. A crypto idea was tested, using a 50/200 SMA time-series momentum on BTC/ETH, but it was rejected. All crypto momentum, mean-reversion, and pairs ideas have been exhausted and rejected across 3 runs. The next run will involve checking the clock, and if the market is open, executing the GTLB buy immediately, while also verifying that there is no fresh negative news on GTLB overnight.

The trading plan was re-verified on 2026-09-02 at 03:57 UTC, before the market opened at 13:30 UTC. A PDUFA, or Prescription Drug User Fee Act, plan is a schedule for the US Food and Drug Administration to review and decide on new drugs. No news of a Complete Response Letter, or CRL, or delay was found for the three plans. A CRL is a letter from the FDA that says a drug is not ready for approval. The prices of the stocks had barely changed: RARE closed at 25.80, IONS at 59.86, and MIRM at 98.415. The plan is to buy approximately $8300 of each stock when the market opens: RARE with a stop at 24.00 and a target of 29.00, exiting by 9/16, IONS with a stop at 56.00 and a target of 66.00, exiting by 9/18, and MIRM with a stop at 93.00 and a target of 106.00, exiting by 9/22. The total investment will be approximately $24,900, which is the fund's cap. This run did not execute because the market was closed, resulting in a market_closed error. The next run will check the time first and only execute stock orders when the US market is open, from 9:30 to 16:00 ET. If the market is still closed, it will wait and report instead of retrying. Sources include the Curesanfilippofoundation and Primer Therapeutics websites.

The automated trading fund manager did not make any trades on 2026-09-02 due to errors with the Reddit and YouTube source tools, which were missing necessary codes, called REDDIT_CLIENT_ID and YOUTUBE_API_KEY, to access comment velocity and transcript data. The manager relied on WebSearch, press releases, and Alpaca bars instead. The manager reviewed and passed on the following candidates: ELF, which had a viral product sellout and a new haircare launch on TikTok Shop, but its stock had already increased by 75% in 4 months and the next earnings report is not until November 11, so it is too late to invest, but the manager will watch for a pullback to $90-95; GPRO, which had a meme-driven price increase that has already faded, closing 25% off its intraday high on 500M volume, making it too volatile and late to invest; CAVA, which decreased in value going into September 1, but this decrease is not related to food safety issues, as the cyclosporiasis and lettuce outbreak was related to Taco Bell and Taylor Farms, not CAVA, so the manager will skip it; and ZEC, which had a social rally driven by Naval Ravikant, increasing 10 times in value year-to-date, but the manager cannot trade it because ZEC/USD is not a supported symbol on the venue's crypto data. For the next run, the manager will first try to fix the Reddit and YouTube tools, and if they are working, check for beauty and wallstreetbets discussions on Reddit, and TikTok-related searches for ELF pullback entries and fresh sellout or backlash stories on smaller-cap names, and also check G2 and Trustpilot for enterprise SaaS churn signals, which were not explored in this run.

The plan is to buy GTLB at the market open on 2026-09-02. The reason for this is that GTLB beat its expected earnings per share (EPS) by 33% and raised its guidance for the fiscal year 2027, which was reported after the market closed on September 1. The stock price increased by 20.9% after hours, from $45.05 to $54.46, with a bid/ask price of $52.19/$55.00 according to Alpaca. This is a strong surprise with a strong immediate positive reaction, which is a typical setup for a long Post-Earnings Announcement Drift (PEAD) strategy, expecting the stock to continue to rise over the following weeks. At the next market open, if GTLB opens in the range of approximately $48-58, the plan is to buy approximately $6,000 worth of the stock, which is about 24% of the $24,990 capital. A stop-loss will be set at about 10% below the actual fill price to protect against a reversal. The target is to sell at about 20% above the fill price, which is a typical continuation of the PEAD strategy. The time horizon for this trade is 4-6 weeks. If the price opens below $45 or above $62, the plan will be skipped and reassessed. Other strategies, such as momentum on crypto majors and sector ETFs, were tested but did not perform well. A pairs stat-arb strategy using ETH and SOL performed well in backtesting, with a return of 17.9% compared to a buy-and-hold return of -48%, but it is not tradable without a short-selling tool. MDB also beat its expected earnings but sold off after hours, which is a bearish PEAD signal and not tradable with a long-only strategy. The next steps are to check the open price of GTLB at 9:30 ET and execute the plan, and also to scan news for fresh earnings surprises with positive after-hours reactions, using a screen of EPS beat greater than 10%, guidance raised, and after-hours move greater than 8%.

The market closed before the planned trades could be made, confirming that trades need to happen between 9:30 and 16:00 Eastern Time. Three important decision dates from the Food and Drug Administration, called PDUFA dates, were verified through official company reports to the Securities and Exchange Commission, or SEC. These dates are all in September 2026, and no advisory committee meetings, or adcoms, were found, which are meetings where experts discuss a drug's safety and effectiveness. There were also no red flags, or signs of potential problems, in the review. The plan is to buy shares in the following companies: RARE, with a decision date of September 19, IONS, with a decision date of September 22, and MIRM, with a decision date of September 26. The details of the plan are: - RARE UX111: buy approximately $8300 worth of shares, set a stop loss at $24.00, set a target price at $29.00, and exit the trade by September 16. - IONS zilganersen: buy approximately $8300 worth of shares, set a stop loss at $56.00, set a target price at $66.00, and exit the trade by September 18. - MIRM zilurgisertib: buy approximately $8300 worth of shares, set a stop loss at $93.00, set a target price at $106.00, and exit the trade by September 22. The total investment will be approximately $24,900, which is the maximum allowed for the fund. Before making the trades, the plan is to check that the prices have not changed significantly and that there is no news about the FDA rejecting or delaying the decisions. If the prices have changed, the plan is to adjust the stop loss and target price accordingly, aiming for an upside of 8-12% and a downside of 5-7%, and keeping the exit dates the same, which is 2-3 trading days before the PDUFA date. The plan is to exit the trades before the FDA decision date, regardless of the price, to avoid the risk of a binary outcome, where the decision is either completely positive or completely negative.

The idea is that the war between Iran and the countries near the Hormuz Strait, which started around March 2026 and is still getting worse as of September 1-2, is causing a problem with shipping capacity. This means that companies that own very large crude carriers, or VLCCs, and Suezmax tankers, like FRO, STNG, DHT, TRMD, and INSW, have more power to set prices due to extra costs from the war, rerouting, and less loading in the Gulf. FRO said on its Q2 call on August 28 that 86% of its VLCC days for Q3 were booked at $156,900 per day, which is about three times the normal rate, and that crude exports from Hormuz were down 82%. The sector, which includes FRO, STNG, DHT, TRMD, and INSW, has been steadily going up from July to September 2026, with FRO increasing by 27% in two months, and its last closing price was $44.285, near its high for the year of $45.26. A trade to buy FRO for $8,000 with a stop at $40 and a target at $52 over a 6-8 week period was tried on September 2, 2026, but the market was closed at the time, so the order was rejected and must be retried at the next market open. The main risk is that a sudden deal between Iran and the US could quickly end the extra cost from the war, as management said that traffic in Hormuz should quickly increase after a deal, so the stop should be kept relatively tight and there should be watch for headlines about a ceasefire before adding more. Also, STNG, DHT, TRMD, and INSW should be watched as alternatives or additions if the FRO position is filled and the idea still holds. A'stop' is an order to sell a stock when it falls to a certain price. A 'target' is the price at which the trade is expected to be profitable. A 'VLCC' is a very large crude carrier, a type of oil tanker.