SPY and QQQ Price Action: September 2026 Monthly Recap
SPY ended September 2026 at 762.63, down 0.58% from its August 31 close of 767.05. QQQ ended the month at 739.77, up 3.21% from 716.76. Two indexes that usually travel together finished the month on opposite sides of flat, and the gap between them is the first thing worth marking on a monthly chart.
The month in numbers
SPY traded 21 sessions in September. It closed higher than the prior close on 6 of them and lower on 15. The intraday high was 775.14 on September 22 and the intraday low was 749.60 on September 16, a spread of 25.54. The highest close was 773.50 on September 21 and the lowest close was 754.05 on September 16. The best single day was Monday, September 21, at +1.55%, and the worst was Monday, September 28, at -0.74%. The average daily range, high minus low as a share of the close, was about 0.69%.
QQQ traded the same 21 sessions and closed higher on 12 and lower on 9. Its intraday high was 748.35 on September 22 and its intraday low was 700.00 on September 16, a spread of 48.35. The highest close was 747.46 on September 22 and the lowest close was 704.54 on September 15. The best day was again Monday, September 21, at +2.77%, and the worst was Tuesday, September 1, at -1.27%. The average daily range was about 1.01%, wider than SPY by roughly half.
Both indexes put their monthly low on September 16 and their monthly high on September 22. Six calendar days separate the low from the high, and QQQ covered more ground in them: its low-to-high move was 48.35 points, or about 6.9% of the low, against about 3.4% for SPY.
What the shape looks like
The month’s range was set inside one week. September 16 is the floor for both indexes, September 21 is the strongest session for both, and September 22 is the ceiling. Everything after that sits below the ceiling: SPY finished 12.51 under its monthly high and QQQ finished 8.58 under its own.
This recap does not offer a reason for any of it. Price did what it did, and a monthly chart only needs the places where it stopped.
Levels to mark going into October
Four lines come straight out of the month. For SPY, the monthly high at 775.14 and the monthly low at 749.60. For QQQ, the monthly high at 748.35 and the monthly low at 700.00. Add the highest and lowest closes if you prefer to mark closing levels instead of wicks: 773.50 and 754.05 for SPY, 747.46 and 704.54 for QQQ.
A level that was set in one week and has not been revisited is not confirmed, and it is not broken either. It is a place to pay attention. The useful work in October is noting whether price returns to these lines, how it behaves when it gets there, and whether the first touch holds before you treat any of them as a rule.
How to use a monthly recap
Put the four monthly levels on your daily chart before the first session of the month and leave them there. Mark what price does at them in a notebook, in plain words: stalled, rejected, ran through, came back. After a month you have a record of your own reads on real levels, which is worth more than any prediction written in advance.
Daily numbers for individual sessions live in the SPY and QQQ price action index, and the method for turning highs and lows into lines is in the support and resistance guide.
All figures come from daily SPY and QQQ price data and are reported as of the September 30, 2026 close. Nothing here is a forecast or a trade recommendation.
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