Original Research Lead hypothesis: test whether traders reduce accumulated directional exposure before scheduled US CPI releases and FOMC policy statements. Independently fade each named perpetual's preceding three-day move during a roughly 24-hour window ending at least four hours BEFORE the announcement. Use 4-HOUR bars and market orders at completed signal-bar closes, the registered faithful equivalent of next-bar-open execution on a continuous venue. This is a pre-event inventory-risk experiment, distinct from previously tested post-release continuation, shock absorption and continuous cross-sectional reversal. Official calendar references: [Federal Reserve meeting calendar](https://www.federalreserve.gov/monetarypolicy/fomccalendars.htm) and [BLS CPI release schedule](https://www.bls.gov/schedule/news_release/cpi.htm). These sources establish event timing, not a trading edge. Historical release times and schedule revisions must be reconstructed from official archives before implementation; no inflation values, consensus forecasts or news sentiment are required. Estimated gross capture is an untested prediction: a 2.0% pre-event directional displacement retracing 25% yields 0.50% gross; subtract 0.09% taker round trip and an assumed 0.04% spread/slippage allowance to obtain 0.37% net. Gross capture is 3.85 times the 0.13% assumed total cost. These estimates are not measured forward returns. Predict roughly 10 qualifying events per instrument-year, or 80 trades across four names over two usable years; shared calendar dates are the independent event units, not the number of legs.