{"id":26072,"date":"2026-01-08T07:30:00","date_gmt":"2026-01-08T12:30:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/jeffclarktrader.com\/market-minute\/?p=26072"},"modified":"2026-01-07T14:02:56","modified_gmt":"2026-01-07T19:02:56","slug":"what-seasonality-tells-us-for-stocks-in-2026","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/jeffclarktrader.com\/market-minute\/what-seasonality-tells-us-for-stocks-in-2026\/","title":{"rendered":"What Seasonality Tells Us for Stocks in 2026"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>Stocks performed well last year, with the S&amp;P 500 Index ending up more than 16% in 2025. That\u2019s the third straight year of double-digit gains for the stock market.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>However, those gains came with a fair share of volatility.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Stocks crashed nearly 20% early last year due to tariff concerns. But the market soon had a reversal of fortune to the upside.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>This kind of volatility may be the roadmap for 2026 as well, according to our TradeSmith Trade Cycles indicators. In fact, with the new year less than a week old, we\u2019ve already seen it, driven by uncertainty about Venezuela.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>That\u2019s why I always perform a new year \u201ccheck-up\u201d with our proven Trade Cycles Seasonality indicators\u2026 &nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Trade Cycles is designed to identify periodic, repeating patterns in stock market prices and combines this with other indicators to help predict upcoming trends for the major indexes, plus individual stocks, ETFs, options, and even cryptocurrencies.&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Trade Cycles can help you more accurately time your entries and exits, and acts as an \u201codds enhancer\u201d when combined with other indicators.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full is-resized\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"626\" height=\"64\" src=\"https:\/\/jeffclarktrader.com\/market-minute\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/1.8.26-JMU.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-917555\" style=\"width:901px;height:auto\" srcset=\"https:\/\/jeffclarktrader.com\/market-minute\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/1.8.26-JMU.png 626w, https:\/\/jeffclarktrader.com\/market-minute\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/1.8.26-JMU-300x31.png 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 626px) 100vw, 626px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>To easily access Trade Cycles from TradeSmith Finance, subscribers can simply enter any symbol in the Search for Ticker box on the main menu, in this case SPY \u2013 SPDR S&amp;P 500 ETF (<em>above<\/em>) \u2013 then click on Trade Cycles.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>(Note that your access will vary depending on your TradeSmith subscription level.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Here you\u2019ll find the current Trade Cycles Seasonality Annual Pattern displayed, as shown below.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full is-resized\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"510\" height=\"349\" src=\"https:\/\/jeffclarktrader.com\/market-minute\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/1.8.26-jmu-2.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-917558\" style=\"width:900px;height:auto\" srcset=\"https:\/\/jeffclarktrader.com\/market-minute\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/1.8.26-jmu-2.png 510w, https:\/\/jeffclarktrader.com\/market-minute\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/1.8.26-jmu-2-300x205.png 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 510px) 100vw, 510px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>As you can see above, SPY is in the midst of a bullish seasonal pattern right now. It\u2019s set to possibly accelerate higher into mid-February.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>By March however, a market pullback is indicated (<em>red arrow<\/em>). Then a choppy trading pattern is indicated for April and early May.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Finally, another seasonal uptrend emerges in June-July, which has historically produced average gains of 3.7%.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>That\u2019s the seasonal roadmap for the first half of 2026 according to our Trade Cycles Seasonality tools. Just keep in mind that these seasonal patterns don\u2019t always repeat exactly.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>So, don\u2019t take this as gospel, but as a gauge of the likely market trend based on history.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Also, be sure to frequently check the TradeSmith <a href=\"https:\/\/finance.tradesmith.com\/markets\/market-outlook?view=tile\"><strong><em>Market Outlook<\/em><\/strong><\/a> page (<em>under the Markets tab<\/em>) on our website to see the current health distribution for the stock market indexes and sectors.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full is-resized\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"624\" height=\"320\" src=\"https:\/\/jeffclarktrader.com\/market-minute\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/1.8.26.-jmu-3-revised.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-917564\" style=\"width:900px;height:auto\" srcset=\"https:\/\/jeffclarktrader.com\/market-minute\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/1.8.26.-jmu-3-revised.png 624w, https:\/\/jeffclarktrader.com\/market-minute\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/1.8.26.-jmu-3-revised-300x154.png 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 624px) 100vw, 624px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p><strong><u>Bottom line:<\/u><\/strong> TradeSmith indicators like our Trade Cycles Seasonality and Market Outlook can give you valuable clues about the likely timing and trend shifts for individual securities and the market. And these insights can help you more accurately time your entry and exit points well in advance of the stock markets twists and turns.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Good investing,<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image is-resized\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/image.exct.tradesmith.com\/lib\/fe8213727c6200757c\/m\/1\/34a6d15e-eaf1-4c10-bf47-a783782acc4a.png\" alt=\"Signature\" style=\"width:280px;height:auto\"\/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Mike Burnick<br>Contributing Editor, <em>Market Minute<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Contributing Editor Mike Burnick always performs a new year \u201ccheck-up\u201d with our Trade Cycles Seasonality indicators\u2026  <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":100,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"0","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"ep_exclude_from_search":false,"service":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"publication":[10],"person":[155],"newsletter-type":[],"ticker":[],"class_list":["post-26072","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-market-minute","publication-market-minute","person-mike-burnick"],"acf":[],"ai_tts_audio_outdated":false,"ai_tts_legacy_post":false,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/jeffclarktrader.com\/market-minute\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26072","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/jeffclarktrader.com\/market-minute\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/jeffclarktrader.com\/market-minute\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jeffclarktrader.com\/market-minute\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/100"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jeffclarktrader.com\/market-minute\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=26072"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/jeffclarktrader.com\/market-minute\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26072\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":26078,"href":"https:\/\/jeffclarktrader.com\/market-minute\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26072\/revisions\/26078"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/jeffclarktrader.com\/market-minute\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=26072"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jeffclarktrader.com\/market-minute\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=26072"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jeffclarktrader.com\/market-minute\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=26072"},{"taxonomy":"publication","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jeffclarktrader.com\/market-minute\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/publication?post=26072"},{"taxonomy":"person","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jeffclarktrader.com\/market-minute\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/person?post=26072"},{"taxonomy":"newsletter-type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jeffclarktrader.com\/market-minute\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/newsletter-type?post=26072"},{"taxonomy":"ticker","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jeffclarktrader.com\/market-minute\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/ticker?post=26072"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}