A bullish reversal developed on the 5m off the 4020 Asian-low sweep (CHoCH + BOS, reclaim of the ~4033 prior-week low, drawing toward the 4062 Asian high), but it never offered a clean return-to-imbalance entry — and the whole USD afternoon sat inside the 13:30–19:00 hard blackout (PPI 14:30 + Warsh ~16:00 + Cook + Beige Book). The red-news gate vetoes regardless of structure.Outcome: Skipped — correctly a no-trade day; John agreed. A later setup would be late into NY, and we don't chase.
- ·§0 hard gate: inside the USD red-folder window — a veto that overrides structure.
- ·First live run of the blind-read → merger split (Stage B structural read + merger news-gate veto).