Fed Hike Odds Surge to 85% as Core CPI Stays Sticky at 2.4%
August inflation came in hot Wednesday and the tape has been rethinking its entire life ever since. Core CPI printed 0.3% month-on-month and 2.4% year-on-year, both above expectations, pushing Fed-hike odds to 70–85% for the September 15–16 FOMC meeting. Headline inflation hit 3.4%, yields climbed, and risk assets spent most of the week in defense mode before Friday's relief rally let the S&P claw back 0.9% into the weekend.
The S&P still closed the week down 0.8%, the Dow down 1.6%, and the Nasdaq down 0.7%. Treasury yields drifted higher as traders priced in tighter policy through year-end. The mood is fragile — Friday's bounce felt more like everyone exhaling before the real event than actual conviction. Next week's FOMC decision is the only thing that matters now.
Futures markets are pricing a growing minority case for another hike in December if inflation stays stubborn. The "higher for longer" camp is gaining converts. Every upcoming PPI print and jobs report becomes a referendum on whether the Fed can actually stick the landing or if we're riding this tightening cycle into early 2027.
Losing Week Across the Board: Down 35% Win Rate, -$1,314 Realized
The Bag posted its worst weekly performance in months. Thirty-six trades closed, twelve wins, twenty-two losses — a 35% win rate that got absolutely worked by macro headwinds and some truly cooked discretionary calls. The platform bled -$1,314 realized across the week.
The worst single trade was a SPCX $157.50 call that expired worthless for -$193 and -100%. Manual-book went 0-for-3 and dropped -$440. Moon Trades went 0-for-4 for -$267. Even Edward Alerts, which managed a 40% win rate, still closed the week down -$225 because the losses hit harder than the wins paid.
The best trade of the week was an AAPL $332.50 call from Edward Alerts that closed +$64 and +43% on a ratchet floor (a stop-loss that locks in profit as the trade moves in your favor). That's the entire highlight reel. One mid-sized winner in a sea of red.
AI Agents Carry the Load While Human Picks Bleed Out
IWM Fade and Circuit Breaker were the only groups that didn't completely fall apart. IWM Fade ran six trades, posted a 67% win rate, and closed +$38 — the only group with meaningful green for the week. Circuit Breaker went 5-for-5 on trade count, hit 40% wins, and scratched out +$4. Open Fade logged five trades at a 60% win rate but still finished slightly red at -$4 because the losses were sized bigger than the wins.
Meanwhile the human-led groups got destroyed. Prophitcy went 1-for-5 across six trades for a 20% win rate and -$360 in realized P&L. @Prophitcy was posting heat on X all week — "$AAPL 🍏 $335 18 SEP 26 CALL 100 $1.68 ➡️ $5.70 🤑 239% GAINER!" and "$CRUS 💻 $120 18 SEP 26 CALL 100 $1.35 ➡️ $2.75 🤑 103% GAINER!" — but those winners either didn't make it onto the platform or got buried by the misses that did.
Edward Alerts managed 40% wins but the math didn't work — six trades, -$225 realized. The losses outweighed the one AAPL win that actually printed. Moon Trades and manual-book didn't land a single winner between them. When the Fed's driving the bus, even the best setups get steamrolled.
NVDA and Energy Bets Crater as Prophitcy, Moon Trades Miss Big
Two tickers ate the bulk of the damage: NVDA calls cost the platform -$360 across two trades, and XLE energy plays dropped -$267 across four. Both went entirely unrewarded. NVDA couldn't break out despite the Anthropic IPO headlines (Nvidia reportedly eyeing up to $10 billion in the offering at a nearly $2 trillion Anthropic valuation). Rate fears and macro jitters kept tech on a short leash all week.
XLE — the energy sector ETF — got hit as crude stayed rangebound and the Fed narrative shifted back to "we're tightening until something breaks." Moon Trades took all four XLE punches and went 0-for-4 on the week. Prophitcy's NVDA calls missed entirely as the stock chopped inside a narrow range instead of running on AI hype.
The only ticker that worked was IWM — small caps — which posted +$34 realized across eleven trades. IWM Fade's entire strategy is betting against small-cap rips at the open, and this week's chop gave it exactly the setups it wanted. QQQ logged five trades for +$4, basically a scratch. Everything else was red or worse.
FORM GUIDE
The numbers say last week was a stress test and most groups failed it. IWM Fade is the only name printing real green (+$38, 67% win rate) and the only group you'd want to follow into a Fed meeting where hike odds are sitting at 85%. Circuit Breaker and Open Fade both logged 60% and 40% win rates but couldn't turn that into positive P&L — they're battling position sizing or getting caught in the wrong part of the volatility curve.
Edward Alerts, Prophitcy, and Moon Trades are all in the penalty box. Edward's 40% win rate looks fine on paper but -$225 realized says the risk management isn't tight enough when the tape turns. Prophitcy's 20% win rate is borderline unplayable — one-in-five is lottery ticket territory, and the platform P&L shows it. Moon Trades going 0-for-4 speaks for itself.
Manual-book dropped -$440 on three trades with zero wins. Mission Control ran one SpaceX-themed trade and lost -$60. The discretionary side of the house is in shambles. If you're positioning into next week's FOMC, the form guide says stick with the algos that actually survived this chop and wait for the human callers to prove they can read a Fed-driven tape.
