What is Read the Tape?
Read the Tape is a blind chart-reading drill that presents five real S&P 500 charts daily with ticker, company name, and dates removed. You call whether the next five trading days will go up or down. Charts are drawn with TradingView and include live terminal indicators. Your score is tracked as a $10,000 portfolio that compounds across the session based on your conviction level. Performance is measured against the Monkey Index, described as eleven monkeys with no mandate and no risk committee.
How to play Read the Tape
- Study the chart, then check the header strip for RSI, ATR, and the distance from the 50-day average.
- Use the controls below the chart to add moving averages, Bollinger Bands, MACD, or volume.
- Set your conviction level to Low, Medium, or High. The button calculates the dollar stake from your current portfolio value, so a High call later in a winning session risks more than one made at the start.
- Select UP or DOWN. The chart moves forward one trading day at a time, from DAY 1 OF 5 to DAY 5 OF 5, while your running profit stays visible.
- Once all five charts are complete, review the settlement card. It compares your portfolio performance with the Monkey Index, explains the grade for each technical signal, and shows the ticker, company, date range, and historical context.
Why the Monkey Index matters
The Monkey Index is the game’s benchmark: eleven monkeys making random calls with no information. A coin flip gives the clearest measure of difficulty. If the session review shows you went 4 for 5 and the monkeys did too, you can see that the real challenge is beating random chance. The comparison appears on every settlement card, along with whether each monkey leaned long or short.
Reading the settlement feedback
The settlement card shows what your portfolio earned, what the monkeys earned on the same chart, and how each result split by direction. Below that, each technical signal gets a tick or cross with an explanation. For example, RSI(14) at 75 gets a tick for being overbought, along with a note that RSI can remain overbought for weeks during a strong trend and is not, by itself, a sell signal. The game then reveals the ticker, company, date range, and context. When a call loses, the card explains what happened and why the setup mattered.
Conviction compounds through evidence
High conviction stakes roughly 89% of your current portfolio. One bad High call early can erase four good Low calls. A High late in a winning session risks your accumulated gains, not your starting capital. Conviction buttons show the actual dollar stake at the moment you press them, reflecting your current portfolio value. Treat conviction as a position-sizing decision, not a feeling about the trade.
Tips for better calls
Use the header strip before opening indicators. A reading of 50 EXT +7.3× means price is stretched far from its 50-day average, which changes how you interpret an uptrend.
Toggle moving averages on before committing. The signal grader judges your call against exactly those lines, so see what it will see.
Treat the five-day horizon as given. You are making a one-week direction call; tops and bottoms are outside its scope. The grader repeatedly notes that an established trend is more likely to continue than reverse over a days-to-weeks window.
Call the direction that matches the weight of the evidence instead of looking for a reversal. The feedback often penalizes calls that bet against momentum without strong confirming signals.
Modes and session structure
The daily set is the main event: five blind charts, one $10,000 bankroll, and an edition number shared by every player that day.
Performance review is the wrap-up screen. It reports session alpha over the Monkey Index, a bonus pool figure, your streak, and a share card with the day shown as green and red squares. Links open into your career record and the day's desk stats.
Your file is a longer-run track record that opens up over repeated sessions. It starts you on Diagnostic 1 and counts down how many more calls you owe it.