Agentic Equity Scalp Playbook
A field playbook for Robinhood Agentic Trading via MCP: liquid-gainer screens, sweep-reclaim entries, size rules, hard flat times, and anti-patterns.
Educational resource. Not financial advice. Example parameters are illustrative desk defaults, not a performance guarantee. Agentic trading can lose the entire funded wallet.
Companion: Robinhood MCP for AI Agents
Goal
Positive-expectancy small equity scalps on a Robinhood Agentic account using the Trading MCP — with a written screen, trigger, size, take-profit, and cut before every entry. Most of the session is sitting on your hands; see the refusal list and Evidence field notes.
This playbook is for desk-side agentic sessions. It is not a substitute for a production multi-broker automation ledger.
Hard rules
- Account: place/cancel only when
agentic_allowed=true. - Default window: prefer 14:30–15:55 ET continuation / EOD. Avoid new risk before 14:00 unless a Tier-A exception clears.
- Max live ideas: 2 concurrent (prefer 1 when the first name has extreme relative volume).
- Size: example default $500–750 notional per name; size up only via the checklist below. Example daily loss stop −$40; daily win soft stop +$40 (stop adding). Scale these to your wallet.
- No overnight except an intentional after-hours penny take-profit a few cents above cost — cancel unfilled stretch targets by evening.
- Every long needs both profit limit(s) and a cut (time and/or structural invalidation beyond the sweep). Ladders alone are invalid.
- No hard stops parked in liquidity sweeps. Obvious stop clusters (opening-range low, prior 5m swing low, round-number shelves) are entry / add zones, not MAE parking spots. Protective cuts go beyond the swept low.
- Buy the sweep, not the mid-reclaim. If entry distance to the true swept low is much larger than the take-profit, skip or wait for a retest — do not invent a nearer shelf to fake R:R.
- Review → confirm → place. Disclose quotes on review. Prefer marketable limits over blind markets.
Setup filter
Step 0 — Trend of day
Classify from SPY + QQQ vs prior close and session VWAP:
- Bull day — Both green vs prior close and at least one above VWAP → long-only continuation / late push
- Bear day — Both red vs prior close and at least one below VWAP → relative-strength Regime D/A longs only, or flat
- Mixed / chop — Split signs or oscillating around VWAP → prefer flat after 15:00 unless Tier-A
Step 1 — Liquid prefilter (scanner)
On bull / mixed days, refresh a liquid gainer scan:
- Common stock · day change > ~3% · relative volume > ~1.5
- Average volume (10) > ~1M · last roughly $8–80 · market cap > ~$1B
On bear days, mirror with liquid losers. Prefer relative volume as the primary sort after the liquid gate — raw % change overweight already-extended names.
Step 2 — Time-of-day post-filter (after 14:30)
- 14:30–15:00 — Prefer pullback/reclaim (Regime A); price > VWAP; 5m RSI ~50–68; MACD hist ≥ 0 or improving. Demote RSI>70 extending; day>12% without Tier-A.
- 15:00–15:25 — Prefer late push (Regime B): fresh 5m RVOL, reclaim prior 5m high, price > VWAP. Demote soft volume / MACD flip / no reclaim by 15:25.
- 15:25–15:55 — Manage opens only; no fresh idea scans.
Hard rejects (any window): earnings today / next AM; chaotic spreads; rank-chase without trigger; same-day re-entry after a stop-out; day move >12% unless RVOL extreme and RSI not extended.
Entry triggers (must pass one)
- A — Continuation — Pullback ≤ ~0.4× 5m ATR then hold / reclaim last 5m high. Skip if RSI(5m)>70 and still extending.
- B — Late push — Fresh RVOL expansion after 15:00 with price > session VWAP. Skip into resistance / tired RSI.
- C — Tier-A (pre-14:00) — Extreme RVOL, strong day %, RSI mid-band, tight spread. Otherwise flat until 14:30.
- D — Sweep reclaim — Liquidity grab through OR / prior 5m swing / round shelf, then hold & reclaim — buy the sweep. Skip if sweep fails reclaim.
No trigger → no trade, even if the scanner ranks the name highly.
Liquidity-sweep placement
- Map before entry: opening-range high/low (first 15m), last 1–2 swing lows on 5m, nearby round numbers, session VWAP.
- Prefer limit buys resting at / just above the sweep after a reclaim print — not a chase into the spike.
- Do not put the working cut at that same level. Sweeps exist to take those stops.
- Morning ~09:45 window: default Regime D (or A after a clean reclaim).
Size
Default
Example desk default: $500–750 notional for any name that clears gates (including soft MACD miss, micro-ATR, midday relative-strength). Soft signals → stay at default or skip.
Size-up checklist (all required)
Bump modestly (example 1.25–1.5×, capped until sample grows) only when every gate is green:
- MACD histogram ≥ 0 (hard; no soft miss)
- Price > VWAP with clear cushion
- RSI(5m) roughly 52–65
- RVOL ≥ 1.5 (prefer ≥ 2.0)
- Regime D or A written: buy at/near sweep; structural cut beyond true sweep; risk roughly ≤ 1.5–2× take-profit
- Spread acceptable
- Window 14:30–15:25 or morning clean Regime D / Tier-A
- Take-profit distance is meaningful in dollars (not micro-ATR noise)
- No earnings today / next AM
Never size up to recover a loser or because RVOL alone looks loud (especially earnings movers).
Exit grammar
Profit
- Default: single take-profit near ~0.4–0.6× 5m ATR above fill.
- Optional 2-rung ladder only on Tier-A / extreme RVOL.
- Avoid 3-rung ladders until the session is already green and an MAE plan is live.
Cut (pick at entry; write it down)
- Time (default) — Flat by T+45m or 15:55 ET, whichever first
- Structural — 5m close beyond the swept trigger / OR low → exit. A wick alone is the sweep, not the cut.
- MAE (rare) — Only if a clear shelf exists under the sweep. Never park MAE at OR / swing / round liquidity.
If take-profit 1 fills and the residual is red vs entry → do not hold the residual past the time stop.
Session checklist
- Confirm Agentic buying power; confirm flat book
- Scan + earnings check; no entries before 14:00 unless Tier-A / Regime D
- ~14:25: re-scan; pick ≤2 names with written trigger, size, TP, cut, sweep map
- Review → confirm → place; attach TP; watch cut clocks
- ~15:50 cancel stretch targets; 15:55 hard flat
- Log fills for next session's lessons
Decision tree
Screen name
├─ map sweep levels — buys go there; stops do NOT
├─ Tier-A metrics clear at any time? → still need a trigger
├─ time < 14:00 and not Tier-A / sweep-reclaim? → SKIP
├─ no pullback / reclaim / VWAP / sweep trigger? → SKIP
├─ enter (prefer limit at sweep reclaim)
│ → TP(~0.5×ATR) + time≤45m
│ + invalidation = close beyond swept low
└─ at cut → cancel TPs → sell → stop adding if daily loss stop hit
Anti-patterns
- Midday ladder farms without cuts
- “Monitor and hope” into the close after MAE already exceeds TP1 distance
- Size-up to recover a loser
- Size-up on soft MACD, mid-reclaim, or micro-ATR
- Trading non-agentic accounts via MCP
- Hard stops parked in liquidity sweeps
- Chase entries into RSI>70 extension when a sweep limit is available
- Inventing a nearer shelf so paper R:R looks fine when true sweep risk is much larger than TP
Living lessons (pattern language)
- MAE in the sweep — Protective cuts sitting in the liquidity grab get hunted — place orders at the sweep, cuts beyond it
- Mid-reclaim ≠ Regime D — Buying halfway up the reclaim with a fake near shelf destroys true R:R
- Size-up = full stack — Soft MACD or micro-ATR winners stay at baseline size
Morning Opening Range variant
Same hard rules with a shorter clock:
- Premarket liquid gapper / gainer screen
- Map opening range 09:30–09:45 ET
- Prefer Regime D sweep-reclaim after 09:45
- Hard flat by 11:00 ET
- Share the same daily loss / soft win stops across morning and afternoon sessions
FAQ
Does this playbook guarantee profits?
No. It encodes risk grammar and filters that improve desk discipline. Markets change; sample sizes stay small.
Can I run this fully unattended?
Only if you explicitly enable auto-execute and enforce hard caps outside the model (wallet size, daily stop, flat clock). Prefer confirm-before-place until the session grammar is stable.
How does this relate to Robinhood's example prompts?
Robinhood's examples are open-ended. This playbook replaces them with a closed decision tree an agent can follow without inventing risk rules mid-trade.
Related
- Why Soyhands: Sitting on Your Hands
- When the Agent Should Sit
- Robinhood MCP for AI Agents
- Evidence
- Resources index
- Robinhood Agentic Trading overview
Disclaimer
Educational only. Not an offer to buy or sell securities. Past patterns are not future results. AI agents can err. You are responsible for every agent-placed order. This site is not a broker-dealer and is not affiliated with Robinhood.