Most signal groups give you an entry and a target. That's it. And then you sit there, watching a trade go sideways for 6 hours, wondering if you should cut it or hold.

Here's the problem: signals without expiration dates are just opinions.

The market moves in windows. A bullish divergence on the 15-minute chart might be valid for 20 minutes. After that, the setup is dead — new liquidity, new order flow, new game. But most "analysts" never tell you when to walk away.

The fix is time-decay.

Every signal should have a half-life — a countdown clock. If the predicted move doesn't happen within the window, you exit. No emotion, no "maybe it'll come back." You neutralize and wait for the next setup.

This is how quant desks operate. They don't hold losing trades hoping for a reversal. They have invalidation criteria baked into every single position.

Three things every signal needs:

• Entry — where you get in

• Target — where you get out with profit

• Expiration — when the thesis dies

If your current signal provider doesn't give you all three, you're flying blind.