Friday August 21 2026 SPY SPX ES Actionable Levels

$SPX gives up key must-hold support in regular session and plummets. How much more pain for $SPY?

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In yesterday’s letter, we wrote:

For tomorrow, we’re closely watching the key SPX levels of 7681, 7701, 7718, and 7747. After today’s defense of key support followed by a partial retracement, we remain a bit cautious on the long side until fresh strength emerges. A breach below 7681 would shift the bias short toward 7667 and 7652, with 7636

This is what happened. Yesterday we had indicated caution on the long side until we reclaim 7718 and hold it - we were unable to do this overnight as we bounced around this very chop zone. Then in the regular session, we were unable to hold the critical 7681 level, which triggered a sharp decline through 7667 & 7652 ultimately falling to a low of 7639, just above the 7636 target we had outlined. $SPY ( ▼ 0.84% )  $SPX ( ▼ 0.87% )  $ES_F ( 0.0% )

See how well the levels work?

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Now, with the market showing significant weakness, it's essential to reassess our strategy. Where do we find support amidst this drop? What levels need to be reclaimed for a potential recovery?

More in the trade plan below.

Below, we’ll cover the actionable levels, how we played them today and what they mean for the next session.

The failure to hold the 7681 support was a pivotal moment today. As we anticipated, once that level was breached, it set off a cascade of selling, leading to a substantial move lower. Always trust the levels.

Now we are sitting in after hours right on the key 7647 support level. What does this mean and where do we go from here? Read below for our trade plan which includes actionable support & resistance levels, outlook for the next session and today's trade recap.

Learn the system to make 1-3 low risk, high reward trades per day using SPY/SPX options.

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Don’t miss the Topic Directory - Getting lots of questions that are answered in here.

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Trading Plan

Today's session resulted in a massive 0.9% drop on high volume, indicating strong selling pressure.

Looking ahead to tomorrow, we have manufacturing PMI data scheduled to be released, and we will also be keeping a close eye on developments from the Trump Administration, which could further impact market sentiment.

We are receiving some great questions from beginners. This is helping us develop guides for this group as well as the course. More to come but we’ve created a separate channel in the discord just so you don’t have to be shy about bringing those questions to the group. No question is dumb, we grow stronger together!

In fact, we’ve created this single resource as a guide. It is a living document and we will continue updating it. You must be logged into the site to read it:

https://letter.spyoptionsactionablelevels.com/p/strategy-guide-the-basics

As readers know trading after a massive move in either direction is risky.

Trying to predict when trend will break is a fool’s game because the trend can be stronger than you ever realize.

Going with the trend is hard because it has already run so far (or dropped) and move may be close to over.

All you can do is pick your entries carefully and with proper position sizing. Trading out 1-3 DTE or further also helps soften the blow.

Yes it will decrease the amount of profit but will greatly help keep you in a trade long enough to see return.

For tomorrow, we’re closely watching the key SPX levels of…

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