4. Asset Synchronisation

4.1 Leading / Lagging Asset

Community insight

• When two correlated pairs are showing opposing daily frameworks going into the day, don't guess which one plays out — wait for the volatility at a defined driver like the 9:30 open to react at the shared relevant swing. Whichever pair's reaction confirms (breakout vs. manipulation) is the pair to trade, even if it isn't the one the pre-market plan initially favoured. — AM — "9:30 Open Entries", 8:52

Basic Rules

Community insight

• Never trade the asset that created the double-sweep — only trade the asset showing the double-swing; that's the extreme-weakness-versus-extreme-strength read. — Garrett — "GxT Invalidations | Continuations", 38:38
• One of the clearest tells that SMT is about to break: when all markets are expanding away at reversal, they're typically all heading for the low-hanging-fruit draw the leading asset already took. — Garrett — "Asset Synchronisation", 14:10
• Trade whichever asset is leading on the day. — Garrett — "Asset Synchronisation", 38:00
• If you're trading the lagging side, trade the middle asset — it's stronger than the laggiest one. — Garrett — "Asset Synchronisation", 55:20

• Trade whichever asset is closer to the DoL, as long as RR supports the trade.
• If the leading asset has already taken the draw, switch to the lagging asset to trade the catch-up.
• If trading the lagging side, prefer the middle asset because it is stronger than the laggiest asset.
• After SS, prefer entering the new leading asset.
  • After SS, the relative strength relationship has changed.
  • Prioritise the new leading asset rather than continuing to use the old leading / lagging logic.
• If ES is leading, the price action is usually not ideal.

Asset Selection in Reversal

Community insight

• When the leading asset fails to manipulate a swing, the lagging asset will usually reach that same swing — and if it reverses there, the reversal plays out. — Garrett — "Filter Price through ‘Candle Profiles’", 51:00
• In reversal, trade the leading asset first; once it hits the draw, switch to trading the lagging asset's catch-up. — Garrett — "Asset Synchronisation", 19:20
• When both assets in a triad reverse at the same key level with no clear strength switch between them, it generally doesn't matter which one you trade — pick whichever gives the better fill. — Garrett — "GxT | Precision Swing Point | Pt.1", 43:07

Reversal approach:

1. Trade the leading asset first.
2. After the leading asset hits the draw, switch to the lagging asset.
3. If the leading asset fails to manipulate the true draw, the lagging asset will usually manipulate the opposing range extreme and then reverse.

When SS Is Not Required

Community insight

• You don't need an additional SS when trading the lagging asset if the leading asset already has a close-proximity draw reason to keep going. — Garrett — "Asset Synchronisation", 21:00

If trading the lagging asset while the leading asset has a close-proximity draw reason to continue, additional SS is not always required.

Trading a Fake SMT

Community insight

• If the asset that swept a level just consolidates instead of reversing, that SMT is likely fake — and it becomes a target you can trade into via the lagging asset once it shows a strength switch. — Garrett — "A Deeper Dive into SMT Divergence", 6:43

• If the asset that swept a high / low does not reverse and instead consolidates or continues, that SMT is likely fake.
• A fake SMT can still be traded: use the lagging asset to trade into the same level once it shows a strength switch to catch up.

Range-Relative Asset Selection

Community insight

• If you're taking profit at the far daily draw, trade the asset that is weakest across the whole day. If your target is a nearer relevant low specific to the current intraday range, trade whichever asset is weakest inside that range instead — even if it isn't the higher-timeframe-weakest one. — Erik — indices trade recap, 8:34

• Relative strength is scoped to whatever range you are actually trading, not just the higher-timeframe read. An asset can be the higher-timeframe-strongest one overall while being locally the weakest inside a smaller intraday box, and vice versa — read strength within the box you are trading, not the whole day.
• Pick whichever asset’s local strength or weakness matches where your target actually sits: if the take-profit is the far daily draw, trade the asset that is weakest across the whole day; if the take-profit is a nearer relevant low specific to the current intraday range, trade whichever asset is weakest inside that range, even if it is not the weakest one on the higher timeframe.
• It is normal for different assets in a triad to each have their own local range where they are weakest or strongest — this does not contradict the higher-timeframe read, it just means the correlated assets will hand off strength as price moves through each range.

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4.2 Decoupling & Re-sync

Community insight

• When the strongest and weakest assets in a triad are expanding in opposite directions, never trade the middle asset. Wait for either a manipulation to force a re-sync or a strength switch, rather than guessing which side wins. — Garrett — "resuming our back test from last week" stream, 31:38
• A daily PSP tends to form specifically on days when the triad is very decoupled — the assets trading unusually far apart from each other. — Garrett — live back-test stream, 30:20
• When two correlated assets pull in opposite directions during a move, think of it as a tug-of-war — whichever asset has the stronger pull determines whether you get a clean expansion or a slow, lethargic grind in the other asset until one side wins. — Erik — oil triad recap, 11:54

Decoupling

Community insight

• Pure decoupling — with no other confirming signature — usually just means the market is consolidating, not reversing. — Afyz — Lathyrus Live Trade, 7 Jul 2026
• Decoupling isn't just a symptom to react to — the act of one asset deviating from the true direction is itself the manipulation of a key level, functioning the same as a classic sweep even without one. — Erik — "Decoupled Markets & Asset Synchronization" lecture, 1:16

• After assets decouple, do not trade immediately.
• Wait for SS or 2-stage PSP as the re-sync trigger.
• Decoupling is not an entry signal. It indicates that the market is preparing for re-sync / SMT break / lagging-asset catch-up.

Market Open Decoupling

Common Algo 1:

• The 6:00 H4 candle is usually the decoupling initiation.
• 10:00 re-sync usually happens through Q2 or Q3 / 10:30.
• The leading asset is usually in foreseen distribution.
• The lagging asset is usually in manipulation ranges / gaps.
• If the leading asset fails to manipulate the true draw, the lagging asset will manipulate the opposing range extreme and reverse.

How to Trade Decoupling

Process:

1. Wait for the 6:00am H4 candle to close

   • This H4 candle may often form a PSP.
   • Do not assume re-sync before the 6:00 H4 candle has closed.

2. Identify foreseen distribution and manipulation assets

   • NQ / ES may expand in the opposite direction to YM.
   • Usually one side is in foreseen distribution, meaning the direction the other asset(s) will later reverse and expand towards.
   • The other side is manipulating into a key level opposite the draw.
   • In practice, YM may often be the foreseen distribution asset, while NQ / ES may often be the manipulating assets, but this should not be applied mechanically.

3. Wait for manipulating assets to trade into a key level

   • Re-sync usually happens at the key level the manipulating assets are trading into.
   • At the same time, the already distributed asset enters a new PoP:
     • consolidation, or
     • retracement.

4. Observe two results

   • The 6:00 H4 close forms PSP;
   • the 10:00 H4 candle shows SS;
   • the manipulating assets reverse;
   • the distributed asset starts to consolidate / retrace.

5. Wait for SMT fill sequence / SS-SMT

   • The foreseen distribution asset may create an SMT fill sequence from a gap.
   • The manipulating assets may form SS-SMT.

6. If 10:00 does not complete re-sync

   • 10:30 may complete re-sync.
   • 10:30 corresponds to a new 90m open and requires reassessment.

Asset Sync Continuation

Community insight

• Every type of re-synchronisation comes with a Strength Switch. — Garrett — "Precision Swing Point", 37:01
• When you see SS and PSP together at a reversal, any asset becomes tradable in the right context — they should all expand. — Garrett — "Asset Synchronisation", 01:11:58
• Garrett named this the "ideal sequence": a strength-switch PSP confirming that the leading asset is failing to manipulate a key level, followed by an SMT fill in the gap that carries the lagging asset to the same level. — Afyz — "Strength Switching" lecture, 24:08

Ideal continuation:

• SMT + SS
• PSP + SMT

Types of Decoupling

• Failure-to-manipulate decoupling: the leading asset fails to manipulate a key level but already has draws beyond it — no strength switch is required, only the failure to manipulate itself, before trading the lagging asset to catch up.
• Spaced-out decoupling: the leading asset is so far ahead that the lagging asset is unlikely to ever reach the same level. In this case, trade the middle asset instead of the lagging one — it has better proximity to the draw once the strength switch confirms.
• Pure decoupling: all three assets are simply moving in different directions with no coherent leading/lagging relationship. There is no valid setup here — skip the pair entirely rather than force a trade.

Anticipating Direction With Profiling

• In a trending (bullish or bearish) profile, any decoupled move against that trend should be read as manipulation, not a genuine change of bias — don’t second-guess the trend just because one asset is temporarily moving the other way.
• In a consolidating profile, you cannot assume which side of a decoupled move is the manipulation, since there is no established trend to weigh it against. Wait for one side to fail to manipulate its level, then trade the lagging asset toward whichever side actually held.
• If your trend bias is wrong — the counter-trend move actually succeeds where you expected it to fail — that invalidates the original bias. Flip to trading the lagging asset toward the direction price is actually confirming.

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4.4 Middle-Asset SMT Break

Community insight

• When the leading asset fails to manipulate a key level, watch for the middle asset to break that SMT deep in premium or discount — a "spaced-out" SMT — before the lagging asset forms its own, larger-range SMT and all three synchronise. — Garrett — "Asset Synchronization", 43:21

A second, distinct asset-sync reversal pattern, separate from market-open decoupling:

1. The leading asset trades into a key level (a high or low) but fails to manipulate it — it consolidates or retraces instead of reversing.
2. The middle asset then breaks that SMT, but does so deep in premium or discount of the range (a “spaced-out” SMT, well away from the level) rather than close to it.
3. The lagging asset forms its own, even larger-range SMT relative to the same level.
4. Once this sequence completes, treat it the same as any other two-stage crack in correlation: look for a strength switch (often a strength-switch PSP) to confirm, then expect all three assets to synchronise and expand together.
5. Invalidation: if the SMT that forms is a very tight failure swing, or the assets fail to reverse together after breaking it, the sequence does not hold.

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4.3 Reading Relative Strength via Candle Closures

Community insight

• In the index triad the relationship is typically inverse: when NQ is strongest, YM is weakest, and vice versa, with ES typically the middle asset between them. — Garrett — "Asset Synchronization", 8:56
• An asset that wicks through a level three separate times without a body close through it is showing a high-resistance liquidity run — that repetition is itself a strong signal the level will hold and reverse. — Afyz — week trade recap, 1:14
• You don't need an SMT to gauge relative strength — just compare how each asset closes relative to the same level. Whichever asset closes furthest through it is showing the most strength (or weakness) in that direction, and the other is simply lagging behind. — Garrett — weekly trade recap (4K subscribers), 2:47

• In the index triad, strength is typically inverse between the outer two assets: when NQ is strongest, YM is weakest, and vice versa. ES is typically the middle asset between them.
• Relative strength can also be read from how each asset closes relative to its own wick. An asset that repeatedly wicks through a level without a body close through it, across several consecutive candles, is building a high-resistance liquidity signature — repeated three times, this is a “three drives” pattern and a strong sign the level will hold and reverse.
• Whichever asset’s body closes furthest from that wick, and closest to its own low / high, is showing the most relative strength (or weakness) in that direction.

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