Gate 1: Stale Bars and Zero Returns

Why does Gate 1 compare each leg with a leader instead of flagging every unchanged close?

• Because the leader's price is more accurate than the leg's
• Because an unchanged close is normal when the market itself barely moved; it only signals staleness when the leader moved
• Because the leader is the hedge leg of every pair

A leg's stale votes are 0.6% of train bars, but it has one run of 10 unchanged closes. Does it pass Gate 1?

• Yes, the votes are under 1%
• No, any run of 8 or more unchanged closes fails the gate
• Only if the run happened in the last 30 days of train