Market Update 4:45 PM ET — Bearish Breadth, 3853 Bull Setups Active | October 23, 2026

Market Conditions at 4:45 PM ET

Market breadth closed the session weak at 37% bullish, with just 3,853 bull setups against 1,896 bear setups across 10,280 stocks. The average SCTR of 4.8 confirms broad technical deterioration beneath the surface — most names are trading well below their intermediate trend benchmarks. SPY is the outlier: SCTR 7 with a Confirmed Bull trend and 6 bull counts, meaning the index is holding up while the majority of individual stocks bleed. That divergence is the story. Leadership is narrow and concentrated in speculative small caps — CTNT, VYNE, FMFC, LMFA, and IMMP are firing bull signals, but these are low-float momentum names, not institutional accumulation. Meanwhile, SJT, TZA, and KOD are stretched to the upside, with TZA's presence flagging persistent demand for inverse exposure. With breadth this thin and SPY's trend still technically intact, expect chop with a downward bias over the next 60–90 minutes. The 37% bullish reading leaves little fuel for a broad rally, and an average SCTR under 5 means rallies will be sold into. Watch for SPY to test intraday support as laggards drag, with any bounce driven by the same narrow small-cap leadership rather than broad participation. A break below the session's midpoint likely accelerates selling into the close. Scan the full bull and bear setup lists now to position ahead of the close.