Today's Brief · 2026-09-21

This dated edition preserves the observations shown below. Open Latest Brief for the current report.

Update Status

Market assessment: Sep 21, 2026, 06:53 PM EDT
Confirmed pattern session: 2026-09-21

Updates run before the open, during trading, and after closing scans. Last observation times appear beside each price.

Market closed. Prices are dated observations, not live quotes.

Market Overview

Alpaca SIP feed. Benchmarks provide market context.

• SPY: $773.70 · Sep 21, 2026, 06:53 PM EDT
• QQQ: $742.27 · Sep 21, 2026, 06:53 PM EDT
• IWM: $285.83 · Sep 21, 2026, 06:52 PM EDT

Setups to Watch

Daily scanner labels remain unchanged. Market assessments are observations, not new buy signals.

Current Assessments

Daily Watchlist

Confirmed patterns through 2026-09-21. This dated watchlist is separate from current market assessments.

What Changed

Methodology

Start With Leadership

A stock must be priced at $5 or more, average at least $20 million in daily trading value over 20 sessions, and pass the trend checks. Its relative-strength rank must be at least the 80th percentile of the scanned universe. The initial history minimum is 120 sessions, but the relative-strength calculation needs 252 price observations.

Build a Score Out of 100

The seven components below are added together. Other scanners' total scores are not added again, so the same evidence is not counted twice through an aggregate score.

Relative Strength: up to 20 points. How the stock ranks against the scanned universe. The most recent quarter's return gets 40% weight; each of the three preceding quarters gets 20%. The resulting measure is ranked across stocks. Percentiles of 95, 90, 85, and 80 earn 20, 15, 10, and 5 points.

Trend: up to 20 points. Checks price against the 50-, 150-, and 200-day moving averages, their alignment, and whether the 200-day average is rising. Three grouped trend checks earn 3 points each, a rising 200-day average earns 5, and passing the complete trend template earns 6.

Momentum: up to 15 points. Measures the speed and consistency of the price trend over 90 trading days. It multiplies the annualized fitted price trend by how closely prices follow that trend, then ranks stocks. Percentiles of 95, 90, and 80 earn 15, 12, and 8 points. If the entire regression-score set is unavailable, six-month returns provide a fallback.

Setup Quality: up to 15 points. Uses the strongest setup reported by the existing scans. Confirmed, valid, and developing setups earn 15, 10, and 5 points; no qualifying setup earns zero.

Catalyst: up to 15 points. A strong positive event earns 15 points and another qualifying positive event earns 10. Missing or unknown catalysts earn zero. A verified negative event can block an actionable classification.

Distance From the Yearly High: up to 10 points. Stocks within 5%, 10%, and 15% of their 52-week high earn 10, 7, and 4 points. Stocks farther away earn zero.

Reward-to-Risk: up to 5 points. Measured upside of at least 3 times the initial risk earns 5 points; at least 2.5 times earns 3; at least 1.5 times earns 1. No identified overhead resistance earns 3 points without inventing a price target. Unknown upside earns zero.

Read the Grade Separately From the Entry

A+ starts at 90 points; A at 85; B at 75; and C at 65. Below 65 does not meet the grading threshold. A score of 85 is a score, not an 85% probability of a successful trade.

In a mixed market, the ranking score is multiplied by 0.90. For example, an 85 becomes 76.5 for ranking, but retains its A grade. In defensive or unknown conditions, the quality score remains visible but new actionable classifications are blocked.

These are screening rules, not a guarantee of returns. The stop, available upside, and entry conditions still matter for every setup.

Ranked by the original market-adjusted leadership score, highest first; ticker breaks ties.

Setup Legend

• Below entry: price is below the recorded entry or neckline.
• Above entry, awaiting confirmation: price is at or above that level; the daily scanner has not been rerun.
• At or below stop: the observed price has reached or fallen below the recorded stop.
• At or above target: price has reached or exceeded the original target or objective.
• Trade levels need review: levels are missing or not ordered stop, entry, target.

Daily setup labels: Awaiting Trigger means the daily entry has not been confirmed. Entry Ready, Low Conviction means entry requirements pass but the quality threshold does not. Actionable and Triggered describe the source scanner's completed-session result. Recent Breakout means a daily breakout was recorded; Building a Base means the pattern is forming; Older Breakout means the recorded breakout is older. These labels are historical baseline states, not current entry instructions.

Charts

Charts show confirmed daily history, not intraday candles. The latest observation is in the table above.

Disclaimer

This is not investment advice. Trading involves risk, and losses can exceed expectations. Always use your own research, risk management, and judgment before entering a position.