SPY and QQQ Lift From Range Lows Into Mercury-Mars Square

SPY and QQQ mounted modest rebounds at Monday's close, yet both benchmarks remain pinned beneath their short-term moving averages as an upcoming Mercury-Mars square approaches. For traders, this dynamic highlights a market testing nearby overhead supply while cycle windows signal potential volatility shifts.

Equities Push Off 20-Day Lows

At the close on October 26, the SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust (SPY) rose 0.71% to finish at $765.37 on 31.45 million shares. Despite the advance, price sits 0.62% below its 20-day simple moving average of $770.14 and 0.29% under its 50-day average of $767.59, keeping the 14-day Relative Strength Index (RSI)—a momentum gauge tracking speed and magnitude of price changes—at a neutral 47.

The Invesco QQQ Trust (QQQ) gained 1.11% to settle at $712.20 with volume totaling 32.73 million shares. QQQ remains more technically extended to the downside, trading 2.97% beneath its 20-day average of $734.02 and 1.82% below its 50-day average of $725.43, accompanied by an RSI of 42. Both funds bounced just above their recent 20-session floors of $758.68 for SPY and $701.16 for QQQ.

The Mercury-Mars Cycle Window

In financial astrology, planetary configurations are treated strictly as timing hypotheses to test rather than direct physical causes of market price movement. On October 30, Mercury forms a 90-degree square aspect with Mars, an alignment cycle analysts examine for short-term sentiment pivots or brief spikes in volatility.

This transit coincides with five concurrent retrogrades: Mercury, Venus, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune are all currently in retrograde motion. Cycle analysts assess these clustering periods by observing whether incoming price action confirms or rejects moving-average resistance during the exact window of the aspect.

Technical Levels and Takeaway

The primary tactical question is whether this relief bounce can reclaim intermediate trendlines before the October 30 aspect arrives. For SPY, clearing the 50-day average at $767.59 is the first hurdle required to attempt a challenge of the 20-day line at $770.14. For QQQ, buyers must sustain price above the 20-session low of $701.16 and push toward the 50-day average at $725.43.

A close below Monday's support zones would invalidate this recovery attempt and shift focus down toward the 200-day simple moving averages of $727.39 on SPY and $677.75 on QQQ.

For educational purposes only; not financial advice.

Market data: SPY and QQQ as of October 26, 2026, 4:00 p.m. ET. Moving averages and RSI are astrostock calculations from daily closes. Prices may be delayed.