Weekly Recap: October 23, 2026

This Week's Market

An AI spending scare ran through tech this week. SpaceX, Tesla and Meta all beat on earnings, but worries about AI spending outweighed the beats. The Nasdaq 100 (QQQ) rallied 1.05% on Wednesday, then cracked 2.86% on Thursday, and the Nasdaq Composite's 2.60% drop was its worst day since June 5. Oil closed Friday at $103.27 a barrel, back over $100 as tensions with Iran dragged on, adding to inflation worries. Friday's selling spread past tech: the Dow fell 1.23% and consumer staples (XLP) gave back 1.92% after a 3.31% rally on Thursday. Measured from the October 16 close, the Nasdaq finished the week down 0.71%, while the Dow ended up 0.41% and staples up 0.73%. In a choppy, headline-driven tape, a trade without a defined stop gets punished, and the stock in play is a better trade than the index.

Good Trade

CRWV, a breakout long on Tuesday, October 20. Buyers kept taking out new levels little by little, and I wanted to be in it if they could push it through $59. Once it cleared the $58.23 highs it couldn't get past earlier, I bought 500 shares at $58.64 with my stop at $58.30, then added 270 more at $58.81 as it pushed toward $59, for 770 shares at a $58.70 average. That was a correct scale-in: I added to a position that was already working, not to a loser and not on hope. It dipped to $58.51, still above my stop, then went straight through $59 to $59.25. It pulled back to $58.60 and tested the idea, and at 10:06 it ripped to $59.91 on about 502,000 shares. I sold all 770 on the push over $60, $1.31 a share. It ran to $61.35 by 10:17, so I got out a little early, and I'm still happy with it. Take the meat of the move; I've held for more too many times and watched the whole profit come back.

Bad Trade

CRWV again, a trend continuation short on the same Tuesday morning, right before the long. It flushed from $59.90 at the open to $57.23 ten minutes later, and every close from 9:38 to 9:47 sat below $58. I read that as sellers owning $58 and shorted 500 shares at 9:46 right under it, hoping for a break of $57.23. That break never came. I shorted near the lows instead of at resistance like the $58.07 bounce high, which would have been a better entry. At 9:52 it put in a double bottom at $57.40, a bullish signal, and I was up 45 cents a share. That was my exit. I held through the pop to $57.86, and at 9:54 it closed at $58.13, back over the $58 level my whole idea depended on. I still held, and covered at $58.70 at 9:56 for a loss of about 85 cents a share. That's anchoring again: I stayed married to weakness below $58 while the market was telling me something different. The fix is to write the stop before the entry, size the position against it, and cover on the first bounce off a double bottom.

Bonus: Cut the Loser, Ride the Mover

Monday, October 19. I was long MASK, a penny stock with some news behind it, as it held above $1. Sellers took control below $1 early, so I got out of the whole position for a small loss instead of hoping for a bounce. It kept falling. While I was in MASK, CRWV had stepped down all morning and was finishing a consolidation, and buyers were starting to push it up on building volume. 24 seconds after my MASK exit, I bought 500 CRWV at $61.97 with a stop near $61.70. It broke out, and I sold at $62.96 when the run started losing steam, 99 cents a share. If I had stayed focused on the trade that wasn't working, I would have missed the one that was.

What to Watch Next Week

• Add only to proven strength. On a long, add into strength; on a short, add into weakness. My 270 shares at $58.81 came after $58.64 was already working.
• Cover at the first signal. Waiting past the signal turned a 45 cent gain into an 85 cent loss. Name the exit before the entry, and if a short puts in a double bottom, take the profit and move on.
• Cut the loser, ride the mover. If a stock isn't doing what you expected, don't wait for it to prove you right. Take the small loss and move your focus and your capital to a stock that's actually moving.

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.