September 20, 2026  ·  Le Dossier

Futures lean risk-on into the open

The pre-open brief: overnight markets, dealer positioning, early movers, insider filings and the prior session's options tape — one page, before the bell.

Published Sunday Sep 20, 7:00 AM CTDaily edition3 min read
01

TL;DR

S&P futures are higher at +1.62%. VIX at 14.81 prices calm. SPY opens between the 755 put wall and the 770 call wall — those are the day’s magnets.

Everything below is generated from the same data our desk trades on: the overnight session, dealer positioning, the early movers, and the filings and options tape from the prior session.

02

Overnight & Futures

Levels are the overnight session against the prior settle, captured at 7:00 AM Central. Treasury yield and the dollar set the tone for rate-sensitive groups before the equity open.

Overnight session
MarketLastChange
S&P futures7,712.50+1.62%
Nasdaq futures29,917.25+3.32%
Russell futures2,881.50+0.29%
VIX14.81−13.39%
10-yr yield4.998%+0.75%
Dollar index100.22+0.57%
WTI crude96.08−9.21%
Gold4,424.9+2.13%
Bitcoin80,443+5.64%
03

Dealer Positioning

Dealer positioning from listed options open interest. Heavy call strikes act as magnets-then-ceilings when spot trades below them; heavy put strikes mark where hedging flows tend to defend. The walls are the largest single-strike concentrations near the money.

SPY — open-interest profile

Spot 762.63 · call wall 770 (31,504 OI) · put wall 755 (13,435 OI) · pinned between the walls

796791786781776771770 · CALL WALL766761756755 · PUT WALL751746741736731SPOT 762.63
Call OIPut OI

QQQ — open-interest profile

Spot 722.27 · call wall 735 (8,952 OI) · put wall 715 (20,775 OI) · pinned between the walls

754749744739735 · CALL WALL734729724719715 · PUT WALL714709704699694SPOT 722.27
Call OIPut OI
04

Early Movers

The names moving on volume in the early tape. Gap continuation and gap fade both start from this list — what matters is which of these hold their opening range.

Gapping up
TickerPriceMove
OIG11.66+2967.61%
IMCC4.23+143.10%
WALDW0.01+102.86%
QNME0.56+92.25%
FGIWW0.09+78.60%
SBFMW0.05+74.19%
REFR0.65+68.51%
GIPR0.72+63.44%
Gapping down
TickerPriceMove
DCX0.13−69.89%
MKDW2.63−64.12%
KLXER0.01−55.97%
PAAI1.50−55.09%
PCTTU5.42−50.73%
SDST0.12−50.32%
COCHW0.03−43.10%
STLNW0.02−40.41%
05

Earnings Radar

Drift book. Post-earnings drift positions our model is still tracking (10-session window from the report date).

Open drift calls
TickerReportedBiasConfidenceGap
ORCL09-10Bearish61%−5.4%
ADBE09-10Bearish55%−2.4%
06

Sector Posture

Technology leads over the window at +0.84%; Materials brings up the rear at −1.43%. Rotation, not direction, is usually the earlier tell.

Sector performance
ETFSector1D5D21DYTD
XLKTechnology+0.84%+2.92%+3.56%+31.4%
XLIIndustrials+0.43%−0.12%−5.57%+7.4%
XLFFinancials−0.01%−2.05%−1.88%+1.7%
XLVHealth Care−0.24%+0.39%−2.34%+8.3%
XLYDiscretionary−0.33%−1.60%−4.84%−6.2%
XLEEnergy−0.34%−0.46%+0.75%+40.7%
XLPStaples−0.80%−1.90%−2.94%+6.6%
XLREReal Estate−1.01%−1.44%−5.70%+5.3%
XLCCommunication−1.32%−3.65%+0.13%−5.2%
XLUUtilities−1.42%−1.72%−6.12%−4.9%
XLBMaterials−1.43%−0.97%−4.64%+8.4%
07

Insider Tape

The freshest disclosed buys from corporate insiders and Congressional filers, sized by dollars committed. Filing-date entries retain most of the historical edge; scheduled 10b5-1 activity is labelled and should be discounted.

Recent disclosed buying
FilerTickerTrade dateAmountType
Silverman David MAPH08-05$20,908,476EVP, Human Resources
Shellberg Jeffrey D.BWB08-05$3,366,736Insider
Sullivan DonCSW08-05$1,555,812EVP, Chief Strategy Officer
Blaylock Ronald EPFE08-05$998,821Director
Buckley Mortimer JPFE08-05$960,369Director
Harvey David CCVBF08-05$917,680EVP Chief Operating Officer
Mcwatt MichaelNTB08-05$741,319Managing Director, Cayman
08

Options Flow Recap

Our scanner watches the listed options tape in real time for sweeps and blocks hitting at the ask or the bid across the most liquid underlyings. Friday it flagged 880 qualifying prints, the largest a $2,169,315 single order. The live tape runs on the dashboard during market hours.

09

Levels

Prior-session and five-day extremes. The prior high and low are the first reference points for the open; the five-day range frames the swing.

Reference levels
Index ETFLastPrior highPrior low5-day high5-day low
SPY761.69762.00757.97763.57749.60
QQQ721.45721.73715.08721.73700.00
IWM284.10285.27282.54289.84281.03
DIA515.88517.08514.15526.79512.29
10

Bottom Line

The open belongs to whoever pre-committed. Futures are higher; the walls and prior-session levels above are the map. Take the trade only where a level and a catalyst agree — and size as if the first read is wrong.