According to the AutoCat doc, Amount Min, Amount Max expect absolute values.
Polarity filter criteria
If you’d like to have one of your AutoCat rules search based on the polarity of the Amount column (positive or negative amounts) you can add an Amount Polarity column to your AutoCat sheet. Otherwise the Amount Min and Amount Max columns that are default columns in the AutoCat sheet are expecting absolute values.
If you want AutoCat to look for negative amounts (expenses or outflows) put the word “Negative” (without quotes) in the Amount Polarity column for that rule. If you want it to look for positive amounts (inflows, income, or refunds) put the word “Positive” (without quotes) in the Amount Polarity column for that rule.