diff --git a/STATE.md b/STATE.md
index ba61a71..52f87ec 100644
--- a/STATE.md
+++ b/STATE.md
@@ -50,3 +50,4 @@
 - [2026-03-15] txnBot AGENTS.md ENVIRONMENT enum is stale (#784)
 - [2026-03-20] Adoption milestone state ambiguity in MEMORY.md (#1068)
 - [2026-03-20] OptimizerV3Push3 as IOptimizer always returns bear defaults — integration risk (#1063)
+- [2026-03-21] deploy-optimizer.sh reads LM_ADDR inside a guard that silently skips on missing broadcast JSON (#1051)
diff --git a/tools/deploy-optimizer.sh b/tools/deploy-optimizer.sh
index b6504e7..2a6a3d3 100755
--- a/tools/deploy-optimizer.sh
+++ b/tools/deploy-optimizer.sh
@@ -263,9 +263,11 @@ PYEOF
         # Verify that the seed trade bootstrapped VWAP during deployment.
         # DeployLocal.sol runs a first recenter + seed buy + second recenter so that
         # cumulativeVolume>0 before any user can interact with the protocol.
+        if [ ! -f "$BROADCAST_JSON" ]; then
+            fail "Broadcast JSON not found: $BROADCAST_JSON — cannot verify VWAP bootstrap"
+        fi
         LM_ADDR=""
-        if [ -f "$BROADCAST_JSON" ]; then
-            LM_ADDR="$(python3 - "$BROADCAST_JSON" <<'PYEOF'
+        LM_ADDR="$(python3 - "$BROADCAST_JSON" <<'PYEOF'
 import json, sys
 with open(sys.argv[1]) as f:
     data = json.load(f)
@@ -275,6 +277,8 @@ for tx in data.get('transactions', []):
         break
 PYEOF
 )"
+        if [ -z "$LM_ADDR" ]; then
+            info "WARNING: LiquidityManager address not found in $BROADCAST_JSON — skipping VWAP check"
         fi
         if [ -n "$LM_ADDR" ]; then
             CUMVOL_HEX="$(cast call "$LM_ADDR" "cumulativeVolume()(uint256)" \