Journal
Preparing a watchlist the desk can actually use
Eight tickers with a reason attached beat twenty names pasted from a scanner overnight.
Clients sometimes send a long list the night before a briefing. We can scan it, but the live hour will skim. Preparation quality rises when each name arrives with a one-line reason: “earnings next week,” “saw 2k calls at the 45s,” “hedging a convertible.”
A workable template
For each ticker, note:
- market (LSE, US, both)
- whether you hold risk now
- the print or skew feature that caught your eye
- what decision the briefing should inform
That last line matters. “Tell me if the calls are real” is vague. “Decide whether to add before Thursday’s expiry” gives the conversation an edge.
Timing
Send the list 24 hours ahead for a standard Options Flow Briefing. Expiry Week Watch needs the shortlist two days before the Monday note. Late additions are welcome verbally; they rarely make the written summary with full open-interest context.