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The Runner Protocol: Scaling Out in Stages

Scaling out means selling part of a position at levels you wrote before the quote started moving. Here is the framework, without a trade record attached.

By Hunter (Orion). March 2, 2026. 7 min read.

Short answer: Scaling out means selling part of a position at prices you wrote down first, and leaving a smaller piece on. It is a way to decide the exit before the quote is moving. It does not create a winner, and it is not a record of a trade anyone took.

Two exits that skip the decision

A lot of position plans are really one switch.

Sell the whole position at the first target.
Hold the whole position until a later target, or until the idea is wrong.

Both are coherent. The trouble is making that choice while the mark is changing. The first switch gives up whatever happens after the first target. The second switch gives back the whole open gain if the quote reverses before you act. Scaling out is a third plan: some size comes off at the first level, and some size is still on if price continues.

The name "runner" is just the piece you did not sell yet. It is not a claim that the piece will run.

Write the levels before you enter

A scaling plan is a list, not a feeling. Pick the instrument, the size, and the marks before the order. If you cannot fill in the blanks while the quote is closed, you do not have the plan yet.

Here is one shape people use. It is an illustration of the arithmetic, not a template you owe the market.

At the first prewritten mark, sell about a third.
At the next prewritten mark, sell about half of what is left.
Keep the last piece only with a stop you also wrote down first. If that stop is the entry mark, the last piece is flat if price returns there, before fees.

You can use different fractions. The point is that the fractions exist on paper before the trade, so the click is a step you already chose.

A hypothetical three-contract plan

These prices are round on purpose. Nobody took this trade. It is here so the fractions are easy to check.

Assume three option contracts entered at 2.00.

The first mark is 2.60. That is 30 percent above 2.00, because 2.00 times 0.30 is 0.60. If the quote trades there, the plan sells one contract.
The second mark is 3.00. That is 50 percent above 2.00. If the quote trades there, the plan sells a second contract.
The last contract uses a stop at 2.00, the entry mark. If price comes back to 2.00 before the second mark, the plan is done.

What this list does: it tells you how many contracts are still open at each mark.

What this list does not do: it does not make 2.60 or 3.00 show up. If the quote never trades 2.60, none of the steps happen. You still have the original risk, which on a long option is the premium you paid. The plan is a map of exits. It is not an outcome.

Fees, spreads, and partial fills can change the arithmetic. A one-contract position cannot be split into thirds. If you cannot sell the fraction you wrote down, the plan has to be rewritten in whole contracts before you enter.

When a runner is a poor fit

Leaving size on is a choice about risk you still hold. Sometimes that choice is the wrong shape.

The contract expires today or tomorrow. Time decay on a 0DTE or 1DTE option can take the premium apart even when price has not reversed. A runner on that clock is a bet that the remaining time value holds up. Read why theta matters on those expirations before you leave a piece on.
A scheduled event you do not want to hold through. A news release can gap through the stop you wrote. "Leave a runner" and "be flat before the number" are different plans. Pick one before the event.
A strike you cannot get out of. If the bid and ask are wide, the last piece is not a clean exit. The plan should use a contract you can actually sell.

None of these are commands. They are reasons the leftover piece might not belong in the position.

The part to decide in advance

The useful version of this idea is boring. You choose the size you are willing to still hold, the marks where size comes off, and the price where the leftover piece is closed. Then the live quote is only a check against that page.

If you change the page because the quote is exciting, you are not scaling out. You are making a new decision with less time. That can be right. It is just not the plan you wrote.

Where Zero-G fits

If you want stops, targets, and reward-to-risk marked on a futures chart, Nebula is ten connected TradingView tools for NQ and ES futures. One of those tools is a trade manager for dynamic stops, targets, and R:R. It is a read of the chart. You still choose the exit and the size.