diff --git a/docs/dev/caching-implementation.md b/docs/dev/caching-implementation.md
index f683662..83c5070 100644
--- a/docs/dev/caching-implementation.md
+++ b/docs/dev/caching-implementation.md
@@ -463,6 +463,23 @@ touched while `ZFIN_SERVER` is unreachable is poisoned until
 re-hit the network for every legitimately candle-less symbol on every
 run. It belongs with the deferred routing work.
 
+### The label is not sticky, and must not become sticky
+
+`external` describes where a series came from *now*, not a permanent
+property of the symbol. If a provider ever does serve it, the bars in
+the cache genuinely came from that provider, and `applyTiingoCoverage`
+overwriting the label with `.tiingo` / `.yahoo` is the correct outcome:
+the provenance changed, and the symbol has rejoined the ordinary
+provider path under its own steam. That is a good day, not a bug.
+
+So do **not** add a guard preserving `.external` across a successful
+fetch, and any future routing built on the variant must keep that escape
+hatch open. Making it a one-way door recreates the latch bug that keying
+routing off `provider == .yahoo` already produced - see [the
+`tiingo_retry_after_s` rationale](#getcandles-single-symbol) - except
+worse, because the pinned symbol would be pinned to a tier that only one
+machine can populate.
+
 ### Adding a `CandleProvider` variant is a coordinated deployment
 
 Not a backward-compatible change. `provider` has no default, so it is
diff --git a/src/cache/store.zig b/src/cache/store.zig
index e5626c7..879102e 100644
--- a/src/cache/store.zig
+++ b/src/cache/store.zig
@@ -1550,11 +1550,27 @@ pub const Store = struct {
         /// motivating case is a unitized trust with no ticker and no
         /// CUSIP, whose daily unit values come from a plan
         /// recordkeeper's feed; Tiingo, Yahoo and TwelveData all 404
-        /// it. So zfin can never fetch or restate such a series
-        /// itself. It arrives either by `ZFIN_SERVER` sync (the client
+        /// it. So zfin cannot fetch or restate such a series itself,
+        /// and it arrives either by `ZFIN_SERVER` sync (the client
         /// case) or by direct population of the cache directory (the
         /// server case).
         ///
+        /// **This is a statement about the present, not a permanent
+        /// property of the symbol - and the label is deliberately not
+        /// sticky.** If a provider ever does serve the symbol, the
+        /// bars in the cache genuinely came from that provider, so
+        /// `applyTiingoCoverage` overwriting this label with `.tiingo`
+        /// or `.yahoo` is *correct*: the provenance changed, and the
+        /// symbol has rejoined the ordinary provider path. Do not add
+        /// a guard that preserves `.external` across a successful
+        /// fetch. Doing so would make it a one-way door, which is the
+        /// exact shape of the latch bug that keying routing off
+        /// `provider == .yahoo` already produced (see
+        /// `tiingo_retry_after_s`) - a symbol that gained coverage
+        /// would be pinned to the external regime forever. Any future
+        /// routing built on this variant must preserve that escape
+        /// hatch.
+        ///
         /// **A negative-cache entry on such a symbol is unrecoverable**,
         /// not merely inconvenient. `writeNegative` overwrites
         /// `candles_daily.srf` with a marker, negative entries never
diff --git a/src/service.zig b/src/service.zig
index 53a2a6d..8e82d98 100644
--- a/src/service.zig
+++ b/src/service.zig
@@ -4379,9 +4379,10 @@ test "getCandles offline never escalates a stale adjustment basis" {
 // The label is pure provenance and must stay behavior-free, with one
 // exception: it vetoes the negative-cache write, because for a series
 // no provider carries, that marker is unrecoverable rather than merely
-// sticky. These tests pin both halves - the label changes nothing about
-// how a cache is served, and it does change whether a unanimous 404
-// gets remembered.
+// sticky. These tests pin all three halves - the label changes nothing
+// about how a cache is served, it does change whether a unanimous 404
+// gets remembered, and it is itself overwritten the moment a provider
+// starts serving the symbol.
 
 test "shouldNegativeCache refuses an external-provider symbol" {
     // Looped over every variant so a fifth one has to come here and
@@ -4403,6 +4404,41 @@ test "shouldNegativeCache refuses an external-provider symbol" {
     try std.testing.expect(DataService.shouldNegativeCache(null));
 }
 
+test "a successful provider fetch relabels an external symbol (the label is not sticky)" {
+    // `external` records where the bars came from NOW, not a permanent
+    // property of the symbol. A provider serving it means the cached
+    // bars genuinely came from that provider, so relabelling is the
+    // honest outcome - and it is the good outcome, because the symbol
+    // has rejoined the ordinary provider path under its own steam.
+    //
+    // This test exists to stop a well-meaning future guard that
+    // preserves `.external` across a successful fetch. That would make
+    // the label a one-way door: a symbol that gained coverage would be
+    // pinned to a tier only one machine can populate, which is the
+    // latch bug that routing off `provider == .yahoo` already caused.
+    const was_external = cache.Store.CandleMeta{
+        .last_close = 25,
+        .last_date = Date.fromYmd(2026, 8, 14),
+        .provider = .external,
+    };
+
+    // Tiingo started carrying it.
+    const via_tiingo = DataService.applyTiingoCoverage(was_external, "XTRN", 1_787_000_000, .tiingo, .covered);
+    try std.testing.expectEqual(cache.Store.CandleProvider.tiingo, via_tiingo.provider);
+
+    // Yahoo did, with Tiingo still disclaiming it. Provenance follows
+    // whoever actually answered, same as for any other symbol.
+    const via_yahoo = DataService.applyTiingoCoverage(was_external, "XTRN", 1_787_000_000, .yahoo, .not_found);
+    try std.testing.expectEqual(cache.Store.CandleProvider.yahoo, via_yahoo.provider);
+
+    // And once relabelled, the negative-cache veto no longer applies -
+    // the symbol is an ordinary provider-sourced series again, so a
+    // later unanimous 404 is a real verdict worth remembering.
+    try std.testing.expect(DataService.shouldNegativeCache(via_tiingo));
+    try std.testing.expect(DataService.shouldNegativeCache(via_yahoo));
+    try std.testing.expect(!DataService.shouldNegativeCache(was_external));
+}
+
 test "getCandles serves an external-provider cache without touching the network" {
     // `provider::external` must be inert on the serve path. In
     // particular it must not fall into the `.twelvedata` carve-out,