Weekly Recap: September 25, 2026

This Week's Market

Indexes finished the week green and small caps did not. Measured from the September 18 close, QQQ rose 3.19%, SPY 1.27%, and DIA 0.31%, while IWM fell 0.75%. QQQ alone was up 2.77% on Monday, September 21. The large caps carried the tape and small-cap risk paid the price.

Good Trade

DCOY, a low-float runner on Tuesday morning. It opened at $5.15, pulled back to $5.51 at 9:35, then ripped to $7.01 in the 9:36 bar. Patience paid 90 cents a share on 500 shares, about $450, in under a minute. The trade was not about being fast. It was about letting the pullback show me the move before I committed.

Bad Trade

VEEE, Monday afternoon, a bored late-day trade with no real plan behind it. I bought at $18.05 at 2:45 p.m. and was out at $17.47 at 2:58 p.m. when the stock broke that level, a 58-cent loss on 200 shares, about $116. The dollar loss was small. The reason I was in the trade was the problem. I was restless, not reacting to a setup.

What to Watch Next Week

• Boredom is a signal. If you are looking for a trade because you are restless, that is the moment to stay out, not the moment to find one.
• Runners move fast in both directions. Let the first pullback show you whether the buyers are still there before you commit size.
• Check which side of the market is leading before you size a small-cap trade. With indexes green and small caps red, the tape was not paying you for small-cap risk.

Share counts and per-share figures are shown to illustrate how each trade was managed, not as a suggested position size. Scale any example to your own account and your own risk. This is trade review and education, not financial advice.