Options AI Screener Desk

Session 2026-09-17 · Thu built 12:15 ET

Three names across three sectors, on the strongest market-regime reading in two weeks. The regime score rose to 70, the threshold for a full list, but every leading sector is still losing speed and fewer than a third carry positive momentum, so the list stays capped at three. For the first time in a week the shortlist is not all Energy: a product tanker, a semiconductor maker and a cancer-therapy biotech.

Data freshness

The core scan, signal screener, breakout list and sector table all refreshed this morning. The gem list and the defined-risk spread screener still carry yesterday's data, so no spread structures are shown. This page was published later than usual today; the data underneath it is from this morning.

Gates

Regime clears for a full list; leadership and breadth cap it at three.
1 · RegimeFull list 70 · risk-on · was 59At the 70 line exactly. No confirming signal required.
2 · LeadershipFired all top 5 negativeBOAT −23.7, SKYY −30.9, IGV −17.7, DBC −14.4, AIQ −13.5. Caps at 3.
3 · Intraday heat1 vetoed >8% on the sessionTWST +12.2% vetoed. SMTC +7.7% and IOVA +7.5% sit just under the line.
3b · EarningsHeld 48–76 daysNo finalist reports inside three sessions.
3c · RSITwo flagged 73.8 / 65.2 / 77.4TRMD and IOVA above 70. Reported, not vetoed.
4 · BreadthNarrow 11 of 39 · 28.2%Improving for a second day, still well under half.

Where money is moving

Energy has left the top five. Technology and biotech had the day.
SectorMomentumAccel1DRead
Shipping · BOAT+12.80−23.74+2.08%Still first; bid again today
Cloud · SKYY+7.70−30.89+1.37%Second
Software · IGV+6.26−17.68+0.28%Third
Commodities · DBC+5.17−14.39−0.51%Fading
AI · AIQ+2.99−13.52+1.94%New to the top five
Energy · XLE+2.45−14.09−0.02%Out of the top five for the first time this month
Semiconductors · SOXX−1.95−20.51+3.18%Best day in the table, from negative momentum

Finalists

Three, in three sectors. None is on the gem list; none is early-stage.
TRMD$37.17 · TORM · Product tankers

The top Stage 2 score in the market today and the only name on all three candidate lists. It sits in Shipping, still the fastest sector, and has Mansfield RS +27.2 with SATA 10 on both timeframes. The catalyst is ownership, not oil: Hafnia is buying 4.5M shares to lift its stake to about 18%, while Oaktree sold down, widening the U.S. holder base. Counter-evidence: RSI 73.8; it is already the second-best pick in the book since August 31st (+14.6% vs SPY), so this is a second observation of a name that has run; hedge-fund signal is weak; and a 12% dividend yield usually means the market prices the cycle as temporary.

Stage2B
SATA w/d10 / 10
Mansfield+27.2
RSI73.8
Smart score9
Earnings48d
Leading sector ✓3 lists ✓RSI 74Re-flag
SMTC$180.41 · Semtech · Semiconductors

Mansfield RS +51.6, 63 weeks into Stage 2, after a record fiscal second quarter and a run of target raises tied to AI data-center and IoT demand. It rallied 7.7% today with semiconductors (+3.2%), and it is the only finalist whose analyst target sits well above the price. The least overbought of the three at RSI 65. Counter-evidence: its sector has negative momentum and is decelerating hard (−20.5), so this is a rebound inside a weak group; relative strength fell this week (−2.8); SATA is 8, not 10; a price-to-earnings multiple of about 91; and today's move came within a whisker of the 8% same-day veto.

Stage2B
SATA w/d8 / 8
Mansfield+51.6
RSI65.2
Smart score10
Earnings76d
Catalyst ✓Weak sector+7.7% today
IOVA$10.62 · Iovance Biotherapeutics · Biotech

The strongest relative strength in the scan by a distance — Mansfield RS +139, rising 22.7 this week — on all three candidate lists, 40 weeks into Stage 2. Barclays lifted its target to $15 this morning on physician-survey support for its cell therapy in second-line lung cancer. Read the caveats first, which is why this card is amber: it is a single-program biotech with a lung-cancer data update due in Q4, a binary event that can move the stock either way far more than any trend signal; it is up 262% this year; RSI is 77.4; it trades above the average analyst target; and it rose 7.5% today, just under the same-day veto.

Stage2
SATA w/d10 / 9
Mansfield+139
RSI77.4
Smart score9
Earnings49d
3 lists ✓Binary event Q4RSI 77

None has a fresh timing crossover; all three sit outside the 157-name universe that scan covers.

Options structures

None — the spread screener did not refresh today.

The defined-risk spread screener still carries yesterday's rows, so no spread is shown as if it were live.

Dropped

Strong on the scan, removed on the evidence.
TWSTMansfield +118 and a Leerink target raise, but +12.2% on the session — over the 8% same-day veto.
ILMNRallying ahead of S&P 500 re-inclusion on September 21st. Index-buying demand is an event with a date, not a trend entry.
DKRefiner, Mansfield +64.7, target raised to $90 — but already carried from September 11th and up 5.3% vs SPY since. Not re-flagged inside ten sessions.
ADPT · CYRXStrong scores, but both on the Rotation Gems list — the strongest negative signal in this ledger.
PNTG · NEOGPNTG is down 4% today; NEOG carries a negative catalyst over leverage and possible dilution.
SABR · PDEXSABR is a $2 stock trading at its analyst target; PDEX has no analyst coverage and a $214M market cap.

Thirty-one picks, eight flagging sessions

Alpha versus SPY from each flag-date close, re-priced at 11:50 ET.
CohortMean alphaMedianBeat SPYBestWorst
2026-08-31 · 7+4.48%−0.17%3/7CVI +29.7%ESTC −10.9%
2026-09-01 · 7−0.62%−0.87%3/7VLO +13.7%SLB −13.3%
2026-09-02 · 3−8.28%−9.61%0/3VET −4.5%HP −10.7%
2026-09-03 · 3−1.74%−2.26%1/3CRGY +2.6%ZYME −5.6%
2026-09-08 · 3−2.36%−1.98%0/3ELPC −0.0%MTDR −5.1%
2026-09-11 · 3+6.78%+5.33%3/3TEN +14.3%UROY +0.7%
2026-09-15 · 3−4.17%−2.92%0/3SUN −1.6%SM −8.0%
2026-09-16 · 2+0.76%+0.76%2/2MPC +1.1%LPG +0.4%
All 31−0.03%−1.56%12/31trimmed −0.77% · ex top two −1.56%

Flat on the mean, negative on the median, and two names still decide it

Total alpha across 31 picks is −0.8 points, while CVI (+29.7) and TRMD (+14.6) together contribute +44.3. Without them the other 29 average −1.56%. Yesterday's two picks both beat SPY on day one; the day before's three all trailed it. One session is not evidence either way.