SPY and QQQ Price Action: October 16, 2026 Weekly Review and Levels for Next Week
SPY closed the week of October 12 to 16 at 763.25, down 15.32 points or 1.97% from the previous Friday’s close of 778.57. QQQ closed at 709.80, down 41.47 points or 5.52% from 751.27. Both indexes closed the week at the bottom of their weekly range, and QQQ fell almost three times as far in percentage terms.
The week in numbers
SPY’s weekly range ran from 760.64 to 779.40, a spread of 18.76. The high came on Monday, October 12, and the low came on Friday, October 16. The five closes were 778.10, 778.01, 769.60, 771.79 and 763.25, so two flat sessions at the start were followed by one large down day, one partial recovery and a second down day.
QQQ’s range ran from 707.23 to 749.79, a spread of 42.56, with the same pattern: high on Monday, low on Friday. Its five closes were 746.04, 743.57, 728.95, 728.00 and 709.80. Wednesday carried the first big step down, Thursday held almost flat at the close, and Friday took out Thursday’s low by a wide margin.
On Friday itself SPY closed at 763.25, down 8.54 or 1.11% on the day, with a low of 760.64, and it finished about a fifth of the way up the day’s range. QQQ opened at 725.52, 2.48 below Thursday’s close, ran to a low of 707.23 and closed at 709.80, down 18.20 or 2.50%, about 14% of the way up its range. Both finished near the lows of the session.
I am not going to tell you why this happened. Price moved, and the useful part is where it stopped.
What the weekly shape shows
Monday and Tuesday were quiet, with closes within a tenth of a point of each other on SPY. The break came on Wednesday, October 14, and each later session either held or extended it. SPY’s Wednesday low of 766.71 and Thursday low of 764.43 both gave way on Friday. QQQ’s Wednesday low of 726.39 and Thursday low of 715.44 did the same. Friday was a session where yesterday’s low stopped being a floor.
Levels to mark before Monday
Take the lines straight off the chart. For SPY, the weekly high at 779.40 and low at 760.64, the previous week’s high at 781.62, and the Wednesday and Thursday lows at 766.71 and 764.43, which sit above Friday’s close and may now be tested from below. For QQQ, the weekly high at 749.79 and low at 707.23, the previous week’s high at 762.86, and the Wednesday and Thursday lows at 726.39 and 715.44.
A level that held for one session and then broke is neither a wall nor a ruin. It is a place where traders already made a decision, and price may come back to look at it. Mark it, then wait to see what price does there on its first return.
The weekly low is the nearest line below the close on both charts. A session that trades under it with a close below it tells you more than a session that dips under and recovers by the close. The first is information, the second is a candle with a long tail. Decide before Monday which of the two you will wait for.
A note for the week ahead
Friday, October 16, was monthly options expiration, so some of the volume and movement in the final session reflects contracts expiring, not only fresh decisions. I have not pulled the release calendar for October 19 to 23 yet, and I will not guess at it. The week-ahead page will carry it once the schedule is posted.
Correction, October 17, 2026: after the next-morning recheck, QQQ’s Friday open is 725.52 (was 725.48), which makes the opening gap 2.48 below Thursday’s close (was 2.52). Weekly range, weekly change and all closes are unchanged.
Figures are from daily SPY and QQQ price data pulled about 40 minutes after the October 16, 2026 close. This feed has revised small details after the close before, so I recheck the next morning and correct this page if anything moved.
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