Daily Forecast 2026-10-15

📋 Morning Board📏 Range ForecastΓ Gamma Map🕰 Analog Days📅 Calendar🎯 9:00 Forecast✅ Scorecard🌡 Sentiment🧭 Macro Score

📋Morning Board

SymbolPrev closeChangeVIX / VXN (pct)GEX ($B/1%)Expected range
QQQ$728.95-1.97%22.7 (43rd pctile)-5.05B1.29% (0.78–2.17)
SPY$769.60-1.08%16.9 (45th pctile)-5.55B flip 772.00.81% (0.47–1.43)
QQQ RSI(2)3 oversold
QQQ vs 200-day+8.2%
How to read this · VIX

σ Volatility Indices (VIX / VXN)

VIX = S&P 500 30-day implied volatility (maps to SPY); VXN = the same measure for the Nasdaq 100 (maps to QQQ). Percentile = share of the past year (252 trading days) that closed below the current value.
Index Current Percentile 1-year range As of
VIX · SPY 16.87 45% pctile · Near median
13.5 ─ median 17.1 ─ 31.1
2026-10-14
VXN · QQQ 22.70 43% pctile · Near median
17.2 ─ median 23.3 ─ 33.5
2026-10-14
CBOE official daily closes (VIX from 1990, VXN from 2009). These are closing values, not intraday — the morning brief uses the prior session's close and the evening review the current close, so the series stays consistent with history with no point-in-time bias.

📏Range Forecast

Today's Range Forecast (pre-open)
This section answers one question only: how far price is likely to swing between the open and the close (high minus low). It does not forecast direction — the directional version has been backtested repeatedly and produced no reliable signal.
Symbol Tier Forecast day range 80% interval vs last 20d
SPY Normal 0.81% 0.47% ~ 1.43% Slightly above normal
A normal day with no particular signal. Run your usual parameters; no volatility-driven adjustment needed.
QQQ Normal 1.29% 0.78% ~ 2.17% Slightly above normal
A normal day with no particular signal. Run your usual parameters; no volatility-driven adjustment needed.
How to read this table
· Forecast day range: how far today's high is from today's low, as a percentage of the current price.For example 0.81% above means the day's high and low are expected to differ by about 0.81%.
· 80% interval:on 8 days out of 10 the actual value lands between 0.47% and 1.43%; on the other 2 it falls outside. That is the honest error band — the real value may be half the forecast, or half again as large.
· Tier: days are bucketed into large / medium / small. When it says “High”, about 6 times out of 10 the day really is large, versus barely 3 in 10 for a blind guess. Good enough to size positions and choose strike width; not good enough to compute precise P&L.
· “Tier” and “vs last 20d” can look contradictory, and that is normal: the tier compares against the past several years, the right-hand column against the last 20 days. “High tier but about normal” means the recent period has itself been high-volatility — today is not exceptional, but the overall environment is jumpy and position sizing should stay cautious.
· A 10:00 intraday revision email follows, folding in the actual range and volume from the first half hour; the forecast gets sharper then.
Technical: out-of-sample R² SPY 0.51 / QQQ 0.48, model refits on every run.

ΓGamma Map

SymbolSpotNet GEX ($B per 1%)RegimeZero-gamma flipCall wallPut wallPin
QQQ$724.33-3.66BDealers short gamma$742.12 (spot below)$730 +0.78% · OI 22,102$720 -0.60% · OI 20,099—
SPY$770.32-5.30BDealers short gamma$774.51 (spot below)$775 +0.61% · OI 31,278$770 -0.04% · OI 27,865—

Positive gamma: dealers sell rallies and buy dips, damping moves. Negative gamma: dealers chase, amplifying moves.

Walls are gamma-weighted, not raw OI. 503-day test: a NEAR call wall is real resistance and breakouts through it run shorter; a FAR call wall breaks more often (a volatility tell). Put walls show no measurable support.

DTE≤7 · Walls use the front expiry · post-close snapshot

🕰Analog Days

Prior close profile (2026-10-14, QQQ $728.95): session -1.97% · 5-day -3.80% · vs 200-DMA +8.2% · below 52-week high -4.0% · RSI2=3 · VIX 16.9 · policy rate 3.63% (1-year -0.47)
Closest analog 2025-11-13 (distance 0.34): session -2.04% · 5-day -0.53% · vs 200-DMA +12.4% · below 52-week high -4.3% · RSI2=11 · VIX 20.0 · policy rate 3.88% (1-year -0.70)
What followed: next day +0.08% · 5-day -3.74% · 20-day +0.86%
Side by side | 2026-10-14 (prior session) -1.97% ↔ 2025-11-13 -2.04%; today maps to the day after 2025-11-13, which was +0.08% (single days are mostly coincidence — the Top-20 statistics below are more reliable)
Analog (top 5)Distance That day Next day 5 days on RSI2 then 20 days on
2025-11-13 0.34 -2.04% +0.08% -3.74% 11 +0.86%
2024-10-31 0.36 -2.52% +0.74% +6.14% 10 +5.35%
2024-12-30 0.42 -1.33% -0.85% -0.08% 11 +1.44%
2025-08-01 0.43 -1.97% +1.85% +3.73% 3 +2.98%
2025-02-25 0.44 -1.26% +0.24% -3.46% 1 -3.87%
Top-20 analog statistics (deduplicated — far more reliable than any single day):
Next day mean +0.17% (up 60% of the time, range -1.5% to +1.8%) · 5-day +1.15% (75%) · 20-day +2.19% (75%)
Note: QQQ drifts up over time, so the unconditional probability of any given next day being positive is already about 55%. Compare the “up %” above against that baseline, not against 50%.
25 features in three equally weighted groups: price position (return / distance to moving averages / position in the 52-week range / trend slope / consecutive up-down days / gaps) + technicals (RSI2 / RSI14 / volatility / relative volume / volume trend / range / KDJ-J / Bollinger %B / MACD histogram) + environment (VIX / rate cycle / credit spreads / dollar index / oil / S&P P/E / CBOE equity P/C / AAII bull-bear spread). Weighted z-score Euclidean distance; matching pool 1999-03-22–2026-10-14 (6935 days, excluding ±60 days around the target). Narrative context, not a trading signal: after four rounds of feature engineering the Top-1 next-day directional hit rate tops out at 54.9%, still below the 57% you get by always guessing up. The data is given in full, but do not use it for direction — it answers “which historical setup does today resemble”, not “will tomorrow be up or down”.

📅Calendar

This week (October 15, 2026 to October 20, 2026, ET) the US will release the following important economic data and Federal Reserve events:

[PPI] 10-15 Thu ET 08:30 — Measures inflation at the producer level and is a leading indicator for CPI.
[Retail Sales] 10-15 Thu ET 08:30 — Reflects the strength of consumer spending and is a key indicator of economic health.
[Fed Chair Speech] 10-15 Thu ET Time TBD — Federal Reserve Chair Kevin Warsh will deliver an important speech during the International Monetary Fund (IMF) meeting, with markets focusing on his statements regarding the inflation outlook and future monetary policy path.

🎯9:00 Forecast

9:00 premarket price$720.19 (vs prior close -1.19%, Prev close $728.84)
LeanBase — no strong signal, lean is small
P(close above 9:00 price)56%
Expected close$720.3
Expected high$724.7
Expected low$715.4
Expected range1.29% (0.78–2.17%)
Gatedeep_oversold_calm
Features used4 (Missing inputs: oi|gex)
Model versionv0.3-gates · 2026-10-15 09:02:20 ET

Posted at 09:05 ET, scored at 16:45 ET. The ledger keeps every call — misses included.

✅Scorecard

CalledActual
P(up) 56% · close $720.3 · range $715.4–$724.7Open $718.55 · High $729.43 · Low $715.43 · Close $728.00 (Close vs 9:00 price +1.08%)
Direction✓ hit
Range inside band✓ hit 1.92% vs 0.78–2.17%
Expected high touchedyes
Expected low touchedno
Brier0.196 Brier (naive) 0.196
Close error1.07% Naive error 1.08%
Running tally · 46 calls scored · direction hit rate 20/46 · avg Brier vs naive 0.261 / 0.261

Naive baseline = "close equals 9:00 price, always 55% up".

🌡Sentiment

AAII Retail Sentiment Survey · week of 2026-10-14
Bull−bear spread -2.9 bulls 38.7% / bears 41.6%
39-year percentile 30.1% · 5-year percentile 47.7% (the distribution has shifted down; use the 5-year figure)
Historically a contrarian indicator, and it takes 3–4 weeks to work, not 1–2. Since 2020 the effect has broken down and at times inverted — low-weight atmosphere only.
CNN Fear & Greed Index · live
31.5 fear
prior close 32.3 · one week ago 39.8 · one month ago 28
Percentile since 2022 22%
Backtested: no predictive power for same-day or next-day direction (its components are that day's price action, which makes it circular). Forward absolute returns are positive from every bucket; only the magnitude differs — pure atmosphere.
CBOE Equity Put/Call · 2026-10-14
0.61 index P/C 1.01 · total P/C 0.88
Percentile since 2023 54% (median over the same period 0.59)
Low = retail crowding into calls (speculative heat); high = heavy put demand (defensive)
Backtested: an extremely low P/C (call mania) does not mark tops — forward returns are in fact slightly positive, the opposite of the popular claim. Atmosphere only.
All four have been backtested: none carries tradable predictive power for same-day or next-day direction. They describe the sentiment backdrop and are not a basis for buying or selling.

🧭Macro Score

Total 57.4 / 100 · Posture: Neutral (2026-10-15)
CategoryValueScoreNote
Macro16.5 / 20
└ GDP growth (ann.)2.24 / 5
└ Core CPI YoY2.63.5 / 5
└ Unemployment4.25 / 5
└ PMI (mfg+svc avg)54.74 / 5
Monetary policy8 / 25
└ Real rate (FFR − core CPI)1.48 / 8neutral zone 0–1.5%
└ Policy stance & guidancemodel judgment0 / 10model judgment
└ Communication vs marketmodel judgment0 / 7model judgment
Earnings15 / 20
└ EPS growth YoY %29.65 / 5
└ Forward P/E19.15 / 810-yr avg ≈ 17–18
└ Earnings qualitymodel judgment2 / 4model judgment
└ EPS beat rate %883 / 3
Liquidity9 / 10
└ IG credit spread OAS %0.834 / 4
└ M2 YoY %5.663 / 3overheating also penalised
└ Financial conditions—2 / 3proxied by spreads + M2
Policy & geopolitics1.5 / 15
└ Domestic policy riskmodel judgment1.5 / 7.5model judgment
└ Geopolitical riskmodel judgment0 / 7.5model judgment
Sentiment & technicals7.4 / 10
└ VIX regime16.873 / 4low = seller regime, high = oversold signals active; not directional
└ Trend (200-day, SPY+QQQ)23 / 3the only trend state that passed FDR
└ Flows / rotation / volumemodel judgment1.4 / 3volume ratio + rotation dispersion + breadth; conditions, not direction

Weeks-to-months backdrop, not an overnight signal. Being forward-tested; it does not drive any order.

Full report: Morning report · Evening report

Research output, not investment advice.