Market Update 6:45 PM ET — Bearish Breadth, 3853 Bull Setups Active | October 23, 2026

Market Conditions at 6:45 PM ET

Breadth is running thin into the close. Only 37% of the 10,280 stocks in our scan are printing bullish setups—3,853 bull versus 1,896 bear—and the average SCTR of 4.8 tells you most names are sitting near the bottom of their relative-strength range. SPY shows a Confirmed Bull trend with a bull count of 6, but its SCTR of 7 is a laggard reading, meaning the index is holding up on a narrow base rather than broad participation. The speculative bid is concentrated in micro-cap names—CTNT, VYNE, FMFC, LMFA, IMMP—while SJT, TZA, and KOD flag as most extended, a tell that volatility hedges and small-cap shorts have already run. For the next 60–90 minutes, the breadth math favors drift over breakout. With 63% of setups bearish and average SCTR under 5, there is no fuel for a broad push higher; expect SPY to chop in a tight range with a downside bias as laggards get sold into strength. Watch whether the bull count holds at 6—any drop toward 4 confirms rotation out of index leadership and opens a test of the session's lower range. Scan the full bull and bear setup lists on our dashboard before the closing bell.