Pair Analyze — Combination Command

Runs a fixed, ordered pipeline of specialist skills against one symbol and returns a single consolidated trade plan. Use this when you want "one command" to cover the full path from regime classification to an actionable entry with stops and targets.

Invocation

/tradecraft:pair-analyze <SYMBOL> [TIMEFRAME] [MODE]

# Examples
/tradecraft:pair-analyze XAUUSD H1
/tradecraft:pair-analyze US30 H4 conservative
/tradecraft:pair-analyze EURUSD M15 scalp
/tradecraft:pair-analyze BTCUSD D1 swing

• <SYMBOL> — any broker-recognized symbol (XAUUSD, US30, EURUSD, BTCUSD, ...)
• [TIMEFRAME] — M5, M15, H1, H4, D1 (defaults to H1)
• [MODE] — one of: conservative, standard (default), aggressive, scalp, swing

Arguments are exposed to the skill via $ARGUMENTS.

Pipeline (do not skip upstream steps)

Every step gates the next. If regime fails (e.g., dead range on an M15 scalp mode), stop and report.

Mode Calibration

Symbol-specific wrappers (e.g., analyze-gold, analyze-us30) may lower the per-trade risk for a mode to reflect that symbol's volatility profile. They must never raise it above this parent table.

Output Contract

Return exactly one JSON block followed by a short human summary:

{
  "symbol": "XAUUSD",
  "timeframe": "H1",
  "mode": "standard",
  "regime": "trend-up | trend-down | range | high-vol",
  "bias": "long | short | flat",
  "setup_grade": "A | B | C",
  "confluence": ["ICT order block", "liquidity sweep", "H4 trend"],
  "entry": 2345.80,
  "stop_loss": 2340.50,
  "take_profit_1": 2356.40,
  "take_profit_2": 2367.00,
  "risk_reward": 2.2,
  "position_size": {"lots": 0.35, "risk_pct": 1.0},
  "invalidation": "Close below 2338.00 on H1",
  "news_gate": {"clear_until": "14:30 UTC", "next_event": "US CPI 14:30 UTC"},
  "confidence": 0.72,
  "notes": "Short summary of why this setup passed every gate"
}

Reject and explain (do NOT emit a trade plan) if:

• News gate blocks trading in the next 2 hours
• Regime is incompatible with mode (e.g., range + scalp = skip)
• Position sizing would breach daily loss limit
• Structure and liquidity disagree on direction

Anti-Patterns

• Running on a symbol the broker does not provide
• Skipping regime because "the setup looks nice"
• Forcing an entry outside the refined zone because the market moved
• Using aggressive mode on illiquid sessions (Asian session for US indices, US close for gold majors)
• Stacking multiple open positions without portfolio heat check (see risk-and-portfolio)

Worked Walkthrough: Gold (XAUUSD) H1, standard mode

1. Regime — H4 trend up, H1 pullback, London session, ATR(14) = 8.5 points. Trend-up.
2. News gate — no red-folder events next 3 hours. Clear.
3. Structure — H1 bullish order block at 2340-2343, prior BOS at 2348.
4. Liquidity — equal lows at 2341 swept 2 hours ago; next pool above at 2365.
5. Entry refinement — 50% of OB refined to 2341.50 entry.
6. Risk — 1% of $10k = $100. SL at 2338.00 (3.5 pts). Lot size = 0.28.
7. Synthesis — long 2341.50, SL 2338.00, TP1 2348.50 (2R), TP2 2355.00 (3.8R), grade B, confidence 0.68.

Worked Walkthrough: US30 H4, conservative mode

1. Regime — D1 uptrend, H4 consolidation. Range-in-trend.
2. News gate — FOMC minutes in 18 hours. Still clear for an H4 setup.
3. Structure — H4 CHoCH rejected; bearish order block at 42150-42220.
4. Liquidity — equal highs at 42200 untouched (target for sweep, not entry).
5. Entry refinement — short at 42180 after liquidity sweep of 42200.
6. Risk — 0.5% of $10k = $50. SL above equal highs at 42250 (70 pts). Assuming the common US30 CFD spec of $1 per index-point per 1.0 lot, lots = $50 / (70 × $1) = 0.71 (round DOWN to 0.71 to stay under the risk cap). For a $10-per-point broker spec, the same risk gives 0.07 lots — always check your symbol specification.
7. Synthesis — short 42180, SL 42250, TP1 41960 (3.1R), grade A, confidence 0.74.

Lot-Size Formula (universal)

lots = risk_usd / (sl_points × usd_per_point_per_lot)

• Gold (XAUUSD): usd_per_point_per_lot = $100 where 1 point = $1.00 move × 100 oz contract
• US30: usd_per_point_per_lot = $1 (most retail CFD) or $10 (some MT5 cash-CFD specs) — always verify from the broker's symbol info before sizing
• Round DOWN to the broker's lot step (typically 0.01) so actual risk stays ≤ the cap

Validation Test Cases

Use these to self-check the pipeline output before shipping a plan:

• Symbol is normalized (no broker suffix like XAUUSDm, US30.cash) — if suffix is present, strip it and proceed.
• Every numeric price field has at most 5 significant digits for gold, 1 decimal for indices, 5 for FX majors.
• risk_reward >= min_RR from the Mode Calibration table.
• invalidation cites a price level and condition, never "if price falls."
• position_size.lots respects the broker's min lot (usually 0.01) and step.

See Also

• analyze-gold — pre-configured wrapper for XAUUSD
• analyze-us30 — pre-configured wrapper for US30
• master-trading-workflow — full 18-phase workflow (this skill is its condensed form)