SPX 5,892.45 +0.32%· /ES 5,894.25 +0.28%· VIX 14.28 -2.14%· DXY 104.12 +0.08%· 10Y 4.235 +1.2bp· — Routine Briefing — three SPX briefs a day, one free morning summary —· SPX 5,892.45 +0.32%· /ES 5,894.25 +0.28%· VIX 14.28 -2.14%· DXY 104.12 +0.08%
Vol. I  ·  No. 001 Saturday, April 25, 2026 Issue $0.00

Routine Briefing

Daily SPX intelligence for the operator who trades.

Three briefs a day. One free morning summary. The room where they get made.

Before the bell, after the bell, and at the close — Mastro and Occam map the day's dealer flow, levels, and structure. Subscribe to the free brief. Join Short Bears for the live room.

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Latest Briefing

The morning brief.
Catch the open already prepped.

One brief, every trading day, in your inbox before the open. Levels, day type, what to fade, what to chase, what to leave alone.

RB #001 · Saturday, April 25, 2026 · 5 min read

A sample issue. The real ones drop daily before the open.

Day type

Positive gamma, near a flip. Spot is sitting just above the largest positive-gamma strike for the day, with a flip zone roughly 18 handles below. Base case: chop and revert until either side gets cleanly broken.

Edge levels
Magnet5,890
Acceleration up5,915
Flip zone5,872
Acceleration down5,856
What to do

Trade the magnet until it breaks. Above 5,915, expect flow to amplify. Below 5,872, expect speed in both directions. Inside the band, be the seller of moves, not the buyer.

What to ignore

News headlines. Twitter sentiment. Anything not visible on the dealer-flow map. Today is not a setup day. It's a behavior day.

How it works

One operator.
Three briefs. Two ways in.

Same system, two access levels. Free subscribers get the morning summary. Short Bears members get the live room and every brief, before, during, and after the session.

01

Pre-market brief

Dealer-flow map, day type classification, edge levels. Sent to Short Bears at 10:00 AM ET, summary to free subscribers.

02

Midday update

Live read on what's holding, what's failing, where the structure has shifted. Short Bears only, 2:00 PM ET.

03

Power Hour close

Final positioning, EOD metrics, gap, opening range, IBR, IVx, expected vs actual move, day type confirmation. Short Bears at 4:20 PM ET; full version archived publicly the next morning.

04

Daily call

One hour of live tape, screen-share, and Q&A with Mastro every weekday. Short Bears only.

The assistant

Meet Occam.
Numbers or silence.

Occam is Mastro's trading assistant. Members get full access — to the briefs he helps compile, and to him directly inside the Short Bears group.

Send him a screenshot

Drop a gamma exposure chart. He'll classify the day, mark the magnets, and flag the air pockets.

Ask him anything

Charm vs vanna, dealer positioning, what 0DTE flow is doing to spot. Trader-language answers, no fluff.

Persistent memory

He learns your timeframes, your tickers, your style. Cancel for a month, come back, he remembers.

Always on

Pre-market, mid-session, post-close. Inside the group or via DM. He doesn't sleep.

The offer

Two ways in. Pick yours.

Free

The Brief

Daily morning summary, in your inbox before the open. Public archive on this site.

  • Pre-market dealer-flow read
  • Day type classification
  • Edge levels: magnet, flip, acceleration zones
  • What to do, what to ignore
  • EOD metrics archive (next morning)
Subscribe — free
Fit check

This is for you.
This is not for you.

For you if

  • You trade SPX, /ES, or SPY actively and want a real read on dealer flow.
  • You've built or are building a routine — preparation, execution, review.
  • You want fewer signals, better framed.
  • You'd rather hear "the day is positive gamma, fade extremes" than "BUY THIS NOW."

Not for you if

  • You want price predictions or moonshot tickers.
  • You need every signal explained from scratch.
  • You don't actually trade — you watch.
  • You think "edge" comes from someone else's conviction.
Who's behind this

Mastro.
Operator who trades.

M
Mastro
Founder · The Routine Trader · Badmutt

Full-time SPX 0DTE trader. Six-figure prop trader. 15 consecutive profitable quarters. Has been writing about the tape since 2021 — over 300 issues archived. Builds trading systems and AI agents on OpenClaw. Streams on Twitch, posts on X as @routinetrader, runs badmutt.com on the side.

The Free Brief

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Every morning.
Free.

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