By Lawrence G. McMillan The market as measured by $SPX continues to trade in a narrow range between roughly 7600 and 7800. A clear breakout of that range would generate a momentum trade. Considering that the range is only about 3% of $SPX's value, it's amazing that it has lasted as long as it has. The broad market is presenting a different picture, and we'll get to that in the next article. $SPX rallied earlier this week, but that was mostly a bounce off the latest test of the 7600 support level last Friday. That rally barely brought $SPX back up to its declining 20-day Moving Average. Now, after poor earnings by AMZN and INTC, $SPX is selling off again and is right back in the support range of 7580-7620. Equity-only put-call ratios continue to rise, and that is bearish for stocks. As long

$GOTU$  By Lawrence G. McMillan Join Larry McMillan as he discusses the current state of the stock market on October 26, 2026. https://www.youtube.com/embed/QoDHtrRhZfA$GOTU$ 

By Lawrence G. McMillan The Cboe (followed by other exchanges) has extended the trading hours for certain stocks and ETFs. This has already taken place, although not every option trading platform has implemented its trading for the new hours. The morning extended session runs from 7:30 a.m. (Eastern time) to 9:25 a.m. Then regular option trading begins at 9:30 a.m. The extended afternoon session runs from 4:00 p.m. to 4:15 p.m. That isn’t as much of an extension, but does give one the opportunity to trade for a short while after the NYSE closes. At one time in the past, options on most stocks traded until 4:10 p.m., but that was discontinued after large institutions complained that they were sometimes forced to mark their position in a stock with a 4:00 p.m. price (NYSE close), while optio

$VIX$  By Lawrence G. McMillan As time drags on, $SPX continues to trade within the trading range that has lasted since late July. This is marked in figure 1 by the box on the upper right. The current box has support at 7580-7620, which has been tested several times and is being tested again today. There is some resistance at 7750-7760 (the highs of several recent trading days), with more substantial resistance at the all-time highs, 7820-7840. Let's look at the individual indicators. They are still mixed reflecting the trading range environment. Equity-only put-call ratios are both on sell signals. Countering the negativity of the put-call ratios is an improvement in breadth. Breadth was nicely positive on Tuesday and Wednesday of this week.

$GOTU$  By Lawrence G. McMillan Join Larry McMillan as he discusses the current state of the stock market on October 19, 2026. https://www.youtube.com/embed/TF0-SmcH3-g$GOTU$ 

$TVIX$ $UVIX$ $DECP$  By Lawrence G. McMillan After a slightly worse-than-expected CPI reading this week, the market finally made a move with some gusto. $SPX fell about 1.1% the day after that, with the Dow ($DJX) doing much better, but tech indices faring far worse. So $SPX is back inside the previous trading range, and the attempted breakout in earlier October is now officially a false breakout (pink circle on the chart in Figure 1). There wasn't any follow-through to the CPI-related selling, though, so now $SPX is back in a dull, trading range environment. There is resistance at 7820-7840, with support at 7580-7620. Equity-only put-call ratios

$GOTU$  By Lawrence G. McMillan Join Larry McMillan as he discusses the current state of the stock market on October 13, 2026. https://www.youtube.com/embed/iC9SsU7zspA$GOTU$ 

By Lawrence G. McMillan We're excited to introduce the newly redesigned The Daily Strategist, McMillan Analysis Corp.'s premium options advisory service. We've streamlined the format to make it easier for subscribers to identify trading opportunities, follow our recommendations, and manage open positions. The new Daily Strategist organizes our proprietary research, market commentary, and trading recommendations into three distinct daily communications. What's New? 1. McMillan's Morning SignalsStart the trading day with a systematic overview of market conditions and potential trading opportunities identified by our proprietary indicators, including momentum signals, put-call ratios, volatility analysis, and more. 2. McMillan's Morning Market CommentaryLarry McMillan's daily interpretation o

$TVIX$ $UVIX$ $DECP$  By Lawrence G. McMillan Things seemed so promising on Tuesday, when $SPX traded at new all-time intraday and closing highs. But almost immediately after the market closed that day, selling set in. While it hasn't been heavy selling, it has pushed $SPX back down into the previous trading range. Essentially, the upside breakout wasn't a breakout at all, but merely a slight extension of the trading range. The net result is that there is still resistance at the all-time highs, 7820-7844. There is near-term support at 7720, then stronger support as shown by the red horizontal line in Figure 1, at 7580-7620. The market internals hav

By Lawrence G. McMillan We continue to see articles almost daily about the potential negatives in this market – especially in volatility. Yet all these are really doing is identifying overbought conditions. The market can continue to advance for a long time while it is overbought. That’s why Keynes’ statement remains true: the market can remain irrational longer than you can remain solvent. In this case, “irrational” is “going up too long” and solvency applies to short sellers. But you get the idea. A more novel thought might be this: “Has this extended trading range with worsening internals allowed the market to ‘correct’ without $SPX actually going down?” It has happened in the past (1994 comes to mind). In that vein, it is often the case that the sitting administration attempts to bolst

$GOTU$  By Lawrence G. McMillan Join Larry McMillan as he discusses the current state of the stock market on October 5, 2026. https://www.youtube.com/embed/xdnkx0g38Gg$GOTU$ 

$TVIX$ $UVIX$ $DECP$  By Lawrence G. McMillan The stock market continues to be range-bound. $SPX is still solidly between support at 7580-7620 and resistance at 7780-7820. Those are the two red horizontal lines on the graph in Figure 1. Market internals continue to be poor, causing some of them to reach oversold status. Let's start with the equity-only put-call ratios (Figures 2 and 3). They remain split in their signals. The standard ratio is still slowly climbing, thus keeping its sell signal in place. The weighted ratio rolled over and began to decline a little over a week ago, so it is on a buy signal. Breadth has continued to be poor. Most day

$GOTU$  By Lawrence G. McMillan Join Larry McMillan as he discusses the current state of the stock market on September 28, 2026. https://www.youtube.com/embed/FWgycauj1kU$GOTU$ 

$NVDA$ $AAPL$ $MSFT$  By Lawrence G. McMillan It is said that a bull market climbs a Wall of Worry. In the modern context, this statement remains true of course, but also encompasses $VIX. In the past weeks, we have published a few articles detailing just how many articles are circulating in the financial media about the forthcoming $VIX explosion. That hasn’t happened yet, by the way, and probably won’t until people get more complacent about the current price of $VIX (and the stock market, as well). Of course, the Wall of Worry extends to other sectors of the market. Here’s a relatively new one. The S&P 500 is too concentrated – not just in a

$DECU$ $QQQY$ $XDTE$  By Lawrence G. McMillan This market continues to be one with a huge split between the technical indicators. The market internals (breadth, put-call ratios, New Highs vs. New Lows) remain in terrible shape. However, the $SPX chart itself has regained a positive stance, with last Monday's gains breaking through the downtrend line that had existed. Moreover, the various indicators surrounding $VIX remain positive. $SPX broke above the downtrend line on its chart (the purple line in Figure 1) and attempted to reach the all-time highs at 7820. It didn't quite do so and has now fallen back a bit. So there is resistance at 7780-7820.

$GOTU$  By Lawrence G. McMillan Join Larry McMillan as he discusses the current state of the stock market on September 21, 2026. https://www.youtube.com/embed/WCla3c1x-MI$GOTU$ 

By Lawrence G. McMillan This past week saw further deterioration -- by the $SPX Index as well as the internal indicators. $SPX sold off, but then tried to snap back with a big rally on Thursday, but it is not all that convincing. But, in reality, the 100-point rally just seemed to be an oversold rally. It didn't even reach the declining 20-day Moving Average, much less challenge the downtrend (purple) line on the chart. The rally did accomplish one thing, though: it pushed $SPX back up into that support area. So, technically there is still support there, or slightly below. The market internals have been terrible. Specifically the "market internals" as far as our indicators go, are 1) equity-only put- call ratios, 2) breadth oscillators, and 3) New Highs vs. New Lows on the NYSE. All three

By Lawrence G. McMillan We’re excited to introduce McMillan Morning Market Commentary, a new subscription designed to give traders and investors a concise look at the broad stock market and our current market outlook at the start of the trading day. The commentary brings together four of the key areas we use to evaluate market conditions: S&P 500 ($SPX) price action, volatility ($VIX), equity-only put-call ratios, and market breadth. We’ll highlight important support and resistance levels, changes in our indicators, significant overnight developments, and the signals we believe are worth watching. Rather than simply recapping what happened, the goal is to provide perspective on where the market stands and what we’re watching next. Try It Free for 7 Days To introduce the new service, we

$UVXY$ $VXX$ $TVIX$  By Lawrence G. McMillan As we’ve been commenting for a couple of months now, “everyone” is expecting a rise in $VIX.  In classic stock market contrarian fashion, $VIX has steadfastly remained at low levels – countering the majority opinion and frustrating volatility bulls.  That would include us, to some extent, although it is not surprising to me to see the market act in a way that causes the majority to be wrong.  That was our point in the article we wrote in last week’s newsletter. So what do we do now?  There is still potential for a $VIX increase and a market breakdown, although some cynics point out tha

$GOTU$  By Lawrence G. McMillan Join Larry McMillan as he discusses the current state of the stock market on September 14, 2026. https://www.youtube.com/embed/7xy89tkGkCw$GOTU$