Introducing the Stoptions Family — Three Algorithms, One AI Brain, One Guardian

If you've been following Stoptions, you know the algorithm. The same disciplined four-signal scoring engine that scans the S&P 500 and Nasdaq 100 every morning, ranks 750+ tickers, and surfaces only the highest-conviction setups before market open.

Today that algorithm gets a name: Stoptions Mollie.

She's not the only one anymore.

Meet Stoptions Kay — a brand new algorithm that just started paper-trading today. And waiting in the wings is Stoptions Sophie, our next planned variant. Together they form what we're calling The Stoptions Family — three independent algorithms, one shared AI confidence brain (Amora Edge), and one trade-management guardian (Ritter) watching every open position.

This isn't just a rename. It's a real architectural evolution that gives subscribers more edge, more diversification, and a story worth telling.

Critter, the founder, has two daughters: Kayla Mollie Ritter and Sophie Ray Ritter. The algorithms are named for them.

- Stoptions Mollie takes her name from Kayla's middle. She's the firstborn algorithm — the proven, blended workhorse. - Stoptions Kay is named by combining the K from Kayla and ay from Ray (Sophie's middle). She represents both daughters together — the family unified — which is why she's our flagship two-bucket model. - Stoptions Sophie carries the younger daughter's first name. She's the next algorithm we'll build — a stocks-heavy variant for subscribers who prefer that allocation. - Ritter — the shared family last name — means "Knight" in German. He guards every open position across all three algorithms.

This isn't marketing fluff. The family naming reflects something real: trading systems should be built with the same care you'd build something for your own family to use.

Mollie is the algorithm that's been running for months. Her track record speaks for itself: 215+ closed trades, every one scored by the same disciplined four-signal engine.

- Universe: S&P 500 + Nasdaq 100 + S&P 400 Mid-Cap — 750+ tickers scanned daily - Scoring: EMA crossover (25%), RSI zone (20%), Relative Strength vs SPY (30%), Volume Surge (15%) — composite 0–100 - Threshold: 65+ composite to advance to options analysis - Options layer: Live Greeks + IVR filter (cuts setups with IV rank ≥ 90) - Output: Full trade card with entry range, stop, target, Greeks, position sizing — in your inbox by 9:45 AM ET

Mollie is the foundation. Every algorithm in the family inherits her scoring engine. The difference is in how they manage risk, allocate capital, and exit positions.

Kay started paper-trading today.

She's our V6.7 architecture — a substantial evolution that took 40+ iterations and 7+ months of backtesting to lock in. The headline result: +406% net return / Sharpe 0.78 / Beta 0.45 / Max DD 40.8% across a 6.5-year backtest (January 2020 through June 2026).

For context: that's a CAGR of 28.6%, above the S&P 500's long-run average AND above what most hedge funds publish. Beta of 0.45 means she takes roughly half the market's risk for that return. And the Sortino ratio of 1.12 — well above her Sharpe — confirms the returns are dominantly positive skew, not just leveraged noise.

What's new in Kay's design:

- Two-bucket allocation: 30% stocks / 70% options, run as separately allocated portfolios with their own equity tracking - Trailing take-profit: Calls arm a trail at +95% premium gain, exit on -15% pullback from peak. Captures big runners (+150–300% on the strongest names) without giving back winners - Bear put spreads: When the regime turns BEAR, Kay automatically buys defined-risk put spreads on the weakest names. Active downside protection, not just sitting in cash - BIL parking: During BEAR regimes, ~65% of the options bucket parks in BIL (1-3 month T-bills) for 4-5% yield — much better than 0% cash - RECOVERY regime detection: Catches V-bottoms early via breadth thrusts and VIX collapses. Mollie waits for momentum confirmation; Kay can lean in earlier - Recovery watchlist: 25 high-beta names (Mag-7, growth software, semis) that historically snap back hardest from oversold conditions - Per-ticker circuit breakers: If any one ticker loses 4 of 5 recent trades, Kay pauses on that name for 30 days

Kay runs in paper trade mode for 30 days starting today. After that validation window, she goes live for paying subscribers.

Why the wait? Because we're using subscribers' real money, and "backtest says +406%" is a hypothesis, not a result. The 30-day paper trade is our final validation.

Sophie isn't built yet — but the seat is reserved.

When we build her, she'll be a 60/40 stocks-heavy variant of Kay's architecture. Same two-bucket discipline, but with stocks as the lead vehicle and options as the accelerant rather than the engine. Tighter scoring filters, more conservative risk caps, longer-horizon trade ideas.

Sophie is for subscribers who want exposure to algorithmic trading but prefer their portfolio to lean toward stocks. Estimated build window: post Q3 2026, after Kay completes her paper trade and Ritter clears his training gates.

Every pick from every algorithm gets scored by Amora Edge — an LSTM (Long Short-Term Memory) neural network that learns from outcomes.

For each pick the algorithms produce, Amora Edge outputs an AI Confidence Score between 0 and 100. That score reflects what the model has learned from hundreds of past closed trades: which feature combinations historically produced wins, which produced losses, how the current setup compares.

Where we are today:

- Corpus: 346 closed trades with full feature vectors (well past the 50-trade activation floor) - Status: Shadow mode — predictions logged on every pick, but not yet driving the ranking - Phase 1 gate: 500 trades (we're at 69%) - Once cleared: LSTM weight in pick ranking increases from 0% → 30%

In shadow mode, the model trains nightly and we measure its out-of-sample AUC continuously. When it cleanly clears 0.58 AUC on three consecutive walk-forward folds, we promote it. Until then, Amora Edge is a data-collection and validation system — not a black box driving picks.

The name? Amora is the Latin root for love. Edge is what every trader is chasing. Combined, it's what makes the Stoptions algorithms more than just rule-based scoring — it's the AI layer that learns alongside you.

If Amora Edge decides what to enter, Ritter decides when to exit.

Ritter is a LightGBM multi-head ensemble — one model with three forward-looking heads that score every open position three times a day:

- Head A — Forward Return: Predicts the expected option premium return over the next 1, 3, and 5 trading days - Head B — P(WIN-from-here): Classifies the probability that a position closes as a WIN given the path it's taken so far - Cut / Hold Rule: Combines A + B into a recommended action — close the position, tighten the stop, or hold

Ritter is currently in Phase 0 — observation collection. He's built, training pipelines are live, and 264 of the 300 observation rows needed to cross his foundation-training gate are already collected. Once he crosses 300, he begins training. After clearing his validation gates (target AUC ≥ 0.60), he surfaces live cut/hold recommendations on every position card in your dashboard.

The name? Ritter means Knight in German — and Knight is what he is: the guardian. He doesn't generate picks. He doesn't score entries. His one job is to watch what's already in motion and tell you when the math has shifted enough that holding is no longer the highest-EV decision.

Today (June 17, 2026):

- Mollie continues firing exactly as before — same picks, same trade cards, same delivery times. Zero changes to her operation. - Kay starts paper trading. Her picks are logged but not yet shown on the main dashboard until her 30-day paper validation period clears. - Amora Edge keeps training in shadow mode. AI Confidence scores already appear on Mollie's picks today. - Ritter keeps collecting observations toward his Phase 1 gate.

Within 30 days:

- Kay clears paper trade validation and starts firing real picks for Pro and Elite subscribers - Amora Edge approaches Phase 1 promotion as the corpus climbs toward 500 trades - Ritter crosses his observation gate and begins foundation training

Within 90 days:

- Amora Edge promotes to Phase 1 — LSTM weight in pick ranking raised from 0% to 30% - Ritter exits shadow mode, surfacing live cut/hold recommendations on open positions for Elite subscribers - Sophie's build window opens

This is real progress. The system is getting smarter every night, with every closed trade, with every observation. You're going to feel it.

Most trading services pitch one thing: an algorithm, a signal service, a guru's picks. The differentiation is usually "my picks are better than theirs." The result is a market of look-alike products that all feel the same.

Stoptions is going somewhere different. Three algorithms running independently in parallel, all scored by the same AI brain learning from every outcome, all watched by the same exit guardian. That's not one product. It's a system.

When Kay goes live, your portfolio benefits from both Mollie's blended discipline AND Kay's two-bucket risk management — running side by side, sharing the same AI confidence layer. When Sophie comes online, that's a third independent voice. Each algorithm has its own personality, but they all serve the same goal: making your trading decisions smarter, your risk tighter, your edge measurable.

Three algorithms. One AI brain. One guardian. Named for family. Built for you.

Welcome to the new Stoptions.