THE METHODOLOGY · EXECUTION

How a call becomes a tracked position

A grade is only as honest as the trades behind it. Walter turns every call into a position using one fixed set of rules — the same for every newsletter — built so the numbers can't be gamed and nothing gets scored on a flattering entry chosen after the fact.

When the clock starts

A call is timestamped the moment its email arrives — not when the newsletter says it sent it. If an issue lands after the close or over a weekend, the position opens at the next regular session open. No backdating a winner, no "we called it Friday" after a Monday pop. The timing is out of the publisher's hands by design.

The price Walter uses

Walter buys at the ask and sells or shorts at the bid — the prices a real trader would actually get — and marks open positions at the midpoint. No tightened spreads, no assuming a fill at the best price of the day. Short positions carry a realistic borrow cost. If there's no clean price at the moment of the call, Walter waits for the next valid one rather than inventing a number.

How positions are sized and tracked

Every idea is equal-weight — no single idea counts more than another, so one lucky oversized bet can't carry a track record. When a call comes in gradually ("start scaling in"), Walter builds the position over a few days rather than all at once. Adding to a position opens a new lot; a status update like "still bullish" doesn't. Partial exits are first-in, first-out. And open positions are marked to market every day — Walter counts what a newsletter is holding right now, not just the trades that have already closed.

Pending and expired calls

A conditional call — "buy on a dip to $95" — waits for its condition. If it never triggers within a set window, it expires unfilled rather than hanging forever, and an expired call counts as neither a win nor a loss. Explicit stops and targets act as standing exit orders; the first one hit closes the position.

Why it matters

These rules are deliberately mechanical, fixed, and public. Because the timing, the prices, and the sizing are the same for everyone, a newsletter's score reflects what its calls actually did in a real market — not how the story gets told afterward.