Slacktide.proSlacktide is a personal project and standalone product that scans the options chain nightly and again before market open, then delivers a ranked shortlist of defined-risk credit spread setups via email or SMS. Each alert includes strikes, credit target, max loss, probability of profit, risk-to-reward ratio, and clear enter/skip conditions. Users never connect a brokerage or execute trades inside the platform. They receive the research, make the decision, and place the trade themselves. I designed and built this product end to end.
Problem Statement
Retail options traders who run credit spread strategies face a repetitive, time-consuming screening process every single day. They're manually scanning options chains, cross-referencing technical levels, evaluating implied volatility, and modeling risk before the market even opens. Most of the tools available are either too complex for the average trader or too generic to surface high-probability setups with real conviction. The opportunity was to automate the scan, distill the output into something actionable, and deliver it at the two moments that matter most: after close and before the bell. The design challenge was making dense financial data feel immediate and digestible, whether it landed in an inbox or on a phone screen at a red light.
The Approach
The product was designed around two core moments in a trader's day. The nightly scan reads price action against key technical levels, VIX trajectory, and macro events, then models and ranks credit spreads by credit, probability of profit, and IV rank. A second pre-market scan re-verifies every setup against fresh price data and tells users to skip anything that has been invalidated overnight. The alert format was designed for speed and clarity: a trade card pattern that puts credit, max loss, probability of profit, and risk-to-reward front and center with a plain-language "I win if" condition. Email carries the full ranked list. SMS carries just the top pick, stripped down to ticker, strikes, and credit target. The dashboard keeps a running history of every scan for reference. A tiered roadmap (Scanner, Strategist, Pro) was designed to progressively unlock personalization, from default scans to user-defined risk profiles to account-aware position sizing.
The Outcome
Slacktide is currently in early access with a waitlist open for the Scanner tier. The product demonstrates full-stack product thinking: identifying a real workflow pain point, designing an information-dense experience that respects the user's time and context, and building a scalable tier model that grows with user sophistication. The site itself reflects the same design discipline, with clean visual hierarchy, a clear value proposition, and conversion-focused UX from first scroll to waitlist signup.