How to read the desk

1. Signing in

The first time you sign in, and again whenever its wording changes, the desk asks you to read a short disclaimer. Accept takes you to the desk. Decline signs you out. The disclaimer says that TMI is not a broker-dealer, not an investment adviser and not your fiduciary. It says the desk's grades and readings are the same for every reader and are not advice tailored to you or your circumstances. It also says every trading decision is yours, and that trading low-float small-cap equities carries a substantial risk of loss.

2. The header

The strip across the top. It tells you what time it is, what the market session is, and whether the desk's own parts are working.

Two lines can appear under the header. A coloured line above the board says the page cannot reach the desk, or that the desk's market data is old, and gives the time of the last update in ET. A coloured band under the header means a payment did not go through: it says when your session ends and has an Update card button.

3. The summary line

One row of counts above the board. Each number counts the names in the whole board that would remain if only that one filter were on, so the numbers do not change as you set other filters. Click a count (all but ranked) to show only those names; click it again to clear.

4. The filters

Beside the counts. The filters narrow the live board only; they reset when you reload the page.

While a filter is on, an amber line under the board's controls lists what is on, for example Filters on: Cycle: Day 1., says X of Y names match., and has Clear filters. A second line, Moving names these filters hide:, lists up to five moving names the filters are hiding; click a name to open it.

5. Focus

The strip above the board that holds the names you pin. Press the star beside a ticker to pin it: ☆ is not pinned and ★ is pinned. Focus holds 6 names; the header shows Focus, how many are pinned out of 6, and pinned for this session. Pins last until you reload the page. A seventh pin is refused with Focus holds 6 names. Unpin one to add another. Unpinning a name changes nothing else: it stays on the board and keeps its research.

Each card in Focus shows the ticker, price and percent change, a tag for where the price comes from, three badges (the cycle, the catalyst and the structure), RVOL, SPRD (the spread) and the nearest level above and below the price, each with its distance. A warning about the company's share structure appears on a card when the desk has one. Click a card to open the ticker.

6. The briefing line

A single line labelled Briefing, above the board. It tells you which of the day's reports is current and whether it is ready.

• {Title} · {time}: the report is published, with the time it was published in ET.
• {Title} · due {time}: not yet due. {Title} · being checked: due, and the desk is checking it before it appears.
• No {title} for this session: the report did not appear. A short reason follows, for example No 9:25 am ET assessment ran. or The report could not be checked, so it is not shown.
• New or Revised: a report you have not opened in this browser. Revised means the 10 pm edition has a line or the summary written again. Dismiss marks it as read.
• late: it appeared after the time it was meant to be ready by. It describes the checkpoint it was built from, not the moment it appeared.
• We're watching n names into the open. (or Nothing on watch into the open.): the report's first sentence, until you have read it.
• Read, or Earlier today: opens the report.
• covers $1–$20: the price range the report covers.

The reports. There are four a day:

The 10 pm edition of the Evening briefing. At 10:00 pm ET the desk takes another assessment, the 22:00 recap. It does not publish a separate report. It publishes a second edition of the Evening briefing, built from the 22:00 recap, and a line at the top of that edition says what changed. Revised means the 10 pm edition differs from the first edition: a line or the summary was written again, or the summary was dropped. Published again means it did not. A name whose line was rewritten carries Line written for this edition.

7. The View selector

Below the briefing line, at the right. View is a menu of the board as it stood at each checkpoint completed today. Choose Live for the live board. Choose a checkpoint, written as {time} · {name}, to see the board frozen as it was then. A frozen board is marked Snapshot · not live, and its heading gives the checkpoint's name and time. Generated late means the checkpoint ran after its scheduled time. Back to live returns to the live board. The filters and the counts do not apply to a frozen board; the counts above it still describe the live board.

The checkpoints are scheduled, in the order of the day, all in ET: 22:00 recap at 10:00 pm; Structural refresh at 6:10 am; First market scan at 6:25 am; Premarket reassessment at 6:45 am; Late-mover scan at 7:00 am; Open spike assessment at 9:25 am; RTH reassessment every half hour from 10:00 am to 3:30 pm; RTH close at the close; 20:05 after-hours close at 8:05 pm. On an early-close day the last half-hour assessment and the close move with it.

8. The board

The table of names the desk ranks. Click any row to open that ticker.

Above the table

Reading the columns, left to right

9. The ticker drawer

Click a row, a Focus card or a ticker in a report to open it from the right. Esc closes it, or click outside it. It shows everything the desk holds on one name, top to bottom.

1. The header. The star, the ticker, the setup grade badge, the cycle badge, and a research status: NOT YET ANALYZED, ANALYSIS PENDING, PARTLY ANALYZED, ANALYZED or ANALYSIS FAILED. Then RVOL #n (the name's rank), the company and country, the price, the percent change, and a tag for where the price comes from.
2. Desk Read. The summary. Why now is the catalyst in a sentence. Structural warning is the first thing the desk found in the company's share structure. Next up and Next down are the nearest price levels above and below, with their distance. Then RVOL, Rank, Spread, Vol (volume), Hi and Lo for the session, and three chips: the cycle, the catalyst grade and the structure (CLEAN, CAUTION or DIRTY FLOAT). CLEAN means the desk found no flag, not that the structure is verified. SOURCE COVERAGE INCOMPLETE means some sources could not be collected, so the reading may be missing something.
3. Setup grade. The grade, the time it was recorded, and the five criteria with a one-line reading each: cycle, catalyst, relative volume, liquidity, share supply. Not graded means fewer than three of the five could be read.
4. Morning check. Compares the evening recap with the latest morning checkpoint: catalyst grade, catalyst status, catalyst event date and setup grade. Nothing else is compared. It reads Catalyst and setup grade unchanged since {time}, Revised since {time} with what changed, Not re-read since {time} or No morning check yet.
5. Level Ladder. The price levels around the current price, with current price marked, and the distance to each. A line at the top says whether the price is in blue sky, above the highest prior-session high the desk holds.
6. Desk Research. Shown while the desk has a research record but no finished analysis. Its badge says where the research is (NOT YET ANALYZED, ANALYSIS PENDING, COLLECTING SOURCES, ANALYZING, PARTIAL INTELLIGENCE or ANALYSIS FAILED) and the line under it says what that means.
7. Why It Is Moving. The catalyst: its grade, status, freshness, the newest source the desk cites, a summary, Why traders may care, the event time, and Sources the desk read, which are links to the sources. Plausibly explains move is the desk's judgement, yes, no or unknown. Unresolved lists what the desk could not settle.
8. Risk in the evidence. One sentence from the desk's research: its reading of a risk the evidence shows. It is the desk's reading and not advice tailored to you or your circumstances. Unknown means the desk is not showing a risk, which is not a finding that there is none.
9. Structural Intelligence · Desk. The company's share structure: its classification, TMI Float, shares outstanding, the supply of shares that could reach the market (Known / potential supply), and six groups of the filings behind it. What a float leaves out: warrants, convertible notes and share-sale programs. Each can add shares.
10. Momentum Cycle · Automatic and Cycle, from daily bars. The first is the research model's own reading of the run, in its own words (GREEN, FRESH / FRONTSIDE, YELLOW, FRONTSIDE WARNING, RED, BACKSIDE or UNKNOWN), with its reasoning, the cycle high, the giveback and the historical resistance it names; its Former runner row is the exception, measured from daily bars. The second is computed from the stored daily bars, with no model in it: the phase, how it is measured (up 53.0% from 1.20 · high 2.10 on 2026-10-14 · 12.0% of the move given back · 2 sessions since the high), the cycle high, and Prior runs.
11. Evidence & Provenance. When the research was written, the setup grade's checkpoint, and every source.
12. Structural Analysis. For a name that has not been researched: it says the name was discovered on abnormal participation, and that the research desk has not produced a catalyst, cycle, structure or float assessment for it.
13. Live Market Telemetry. Closed until you open it. The raw market readings behind the row.

10. Below the board

Desk Events. A running list of what the desk saw this session, one line each: the time, the ticker, a label and a message. Relevant shows the names the desk is tracking and your Focus names, plus every halt, resume, source change and assessment; All shows everything. The labels are NEW HOD (a new session high), HALT, RESUME, RVOL RANK ENTRY, AH RANK ENTRY, DISCOVERY (the name entered the tracked population), SOURCE CHANGE (new public sources for a name) and ASSESSMENT (a checkpoint was taken).

Graveyard. Closed until you open it. It lists names that dropped off the active board after going quiet. The header counts dead, revived, died 2+, running and never active. In the list, Dead for is how long since the name went quiet, Rank held is the rank it had, and Peak trades is in trades per minute. A name that came back is marked revived. running +31% means it is up that much since its latest drop. died 2× means it has gone quiet twice or more. Counts are a floor. A name that goes quiet and returns inside one minute leaves no gap to detect, so revivals are undercounted rather than over.

11. The report window

Read or Earlier today opens a report over the desk. Its heading is the report's title and the session it is for. Under it, built on names the checkpoints it was built from, written gives the time, and covers gives the price range and how many names had live trade data. Summary is a short paragraph, and the report is a list of names under headings: RECENT NEWS FOUND, SOURCES CONFLICT, OLDER OR SECONDARY NEWS, NO CATALYST FOUND IN OUR SOURCES, RESEARCH COULD NOT TELL and NOT RESEARCHED AT THIS CHECKPOINT. Each name has a card: the ticker (click to open it), the company line, a Catalyst grade, a risk label, a price path of three prices (the prior close, the high and the price at the checkpoint; in the evening reports, the after-hours high and close), and the report's sentences about it. minute data on a card means the name had no live trade feed, so the report used minute bars and a quiet sentence may mean the desk did not see its trades. Print prints the report. × closes it. At the foot, This report states no float, and the desk cannot independently verify a float for any name in it.

12. Symbols

The Momentum Intelligence Trading Desk is not a broker-dealer and not an investment adviser. Its grades and readings are the same for every reader. They are not advice tailored to you or your circumstances.