Midday Market

Midday Wave #142: Small Caps Surge As Tech Drops – Thursday 10/29/2026

Episode 1424:25

0:004:25

Episode summary

A rotation day on October 29: breadth exploded higher with 40SMA at 58.2% and small caps leading as IWM gained 1.20%, while the Nasdaq-100 broke below key moving averages down 1.35%. FCN stole the show with a 10.3% continuation move, and medical names ICLR and LH flashed institutional volume confirmation.

Key points

  • QQQ fell 1.35% to 715.78 and broke below its SMA-20 and SMA-50, while IWM rose 1.20% to 284.67 and SPY slipped 0.36%.
  • Breadth favors bulls: 264 bull 4% signals versus 124 bear 4% signals, and 58.2% of stocks are above their 40-day moving average.
  • FCN, ICLR and LH are moving on high volume, while HEEI and GDE are advancing on light volume and are vulnerable to reversal.
  • The afternoon call is controlled risk taking (CRT): tighter stops and selective sizing.
  • The rotation holds if QQQ reclaims 725.42 and IWM closes above its 20-day high of 285.26.

Ticker charts

QQQ

Open in app
SMAUp (filled)Down (hollow)

Use left and right arrows to move through history, plus and minus to zoom, ] and [ to open the next and previous event, Escape to close its card, Enter to open QQQ in WaveFinder.

Daily bars through Oct 29, 2026.

IWM

Open in app
SMAUp (filled)Down (hollow)

Use left and right arrows to move through history, plus and minus to zoom, ] and [ to open the next and previous event, Escape to close its card, Enter to open IWM in WaveFinder.

Daily bars through Oct 29, 2026.

SPY

Open in app
SMAUp (filled)Down (hollow)

Use left and right arrows to move through history, plus and minus to zoom, ] and [ to open the next and previous event, Escape to close its card, Enter to open SPY in WaveFinder.

Daily bars through Oct 29, 2026.

FCN

Open in app
SMAUp (filled)Down (hollow)

Use left and right arrows to move through history, plus and minus to zoom, ] and [ to open the next and previous event, Escape to close its card, Enter to open FCN in WaveFinder.

Daily bars through Oct 29, 2026.

ICLR

Open in app
SMAUp (filled)Down (hollow)

Use left and right arrows to move through history, plus and minus to zoom, ] and [ to open the next and previous event, Escape to close its card, Enter to open ICLR in WaveFinder.

Daily bars through Oct 29, 2026.

LH

Open in app
SMAUp (filled)Down (hollow)

Use left and right arrows to move through history, plus and minus to zoom, ] and [ to open the next and previous event, Escape to close its card, Enter to open LH in WaveFinder.

Daily bars through Oct 29, 2026.

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