VOL. I · NO. 119 · standardpoorly.comTHU · MAY 28 · 2026FORWARD HORIZON · 1 d / 1 wk / 1 mo / 3 mo
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StandardtechnicalSP-4691

SPY volume z-score (20d)

Today's SPY volume relative to its 20-day rolling mean/stdev. Volume anomalies (|z| > 2) often confirm or precede price moves.

the verdict —
At the 252d horizon, this signal hits in the predicted direction 45% of fires. Mean SPY forward return when it lights: -1.39%. Status: OOS validated. n = 6377. Bearish on the underlying when fired.
What to watch when it fires
SPY

Current state

Latest value · 2026-05-22
-0.74
vs ~6 weeks ago
54%
vs 60 days ago
9.6%
vs 7 days ago
46%
last 90 observations · 2026-01-14 2026-05-22

The series — full history

Daily readings, every reading we have. Pick a window with the time-period buttons; flip to candles via the global toggle in the masthead (or press C). Toggle the SPY overlay to see how this series and the S&P 500 have moved together.

SPY volume z-score (20d)
-0.7401 -1.20 (-260.07%) over 1Y
Hover for date + value · Toggle SPY to compare relative move
3.712.200.6982-0.8084-2.32May 25Aug 25Nov 25Feb 26May 26
2025-05-22 → 2026-05-22 · 252 bars

What it has historically predicted

On days when this signal fires (deviates 2+ standard deviations from its 30-day average, in either direction), SPY has historically averaged -1.4% over the next year, moving in the opposite direction 55% of the time.

51%
+0.00%
1 d
52%
−0.05%
1 wk
48%
−0.05%
1 mo
49%
−0.00%
3 mo
53%
−0.46%
6 mo
55%
−1.4%
1 yr

Beyond SPY — how this signal performs across markets

Same fire days, different forward returns. Each row asks: when this signal fires, what does that asset do? The big number is the average return; underneath is how often the asset moved the same direction as the signal (50% would be a coin flip).

target
1 d
1 wk
1 mo
3 mo
6 mo
1 yr
SPY
S&P 500 ETF
n=6,377
+0.00%
51% same direction
-0.05%
48% same direction
-0.05%
48% same direction
-0.00%
49% same direction
-0.46%
47% same direction
-1.4%
45% same direction
BTC
bitcoin
n=2,764
+0.10%
51% same direction
-0.19%
48% same direction
-0.94%
48% same direction
-2.9%
49% same direction
-8.5%
46% same direction
-19.6%
45% same direction
Analyst · 6 moreWTI · Gold · Copper · DXY · MOVE · VNQ see the full 8-target matrix with bootstrap confidence intervals.Join waitlist →

Each fire in history — when the signal popped, what SPY did next

Each bar is one historical fire — the indicator's value moved 2.5+ standard deviations from its rolling 180 trading-day mean (~9 months), or for monotonic “days since” indicators, crossed an 80th/90th/95th/99th percentile. Bar height = SPY's forward return at the selected horizon, signed by signal direction. Green above zero means the market moved with the signal; red below zero means it moved against.

horizon:
0 fires · 0% positive · avg +0.00%
−5.0%−2.5%0%+2.5%+5.0%
Each bar = one fire day (|z|≥2.5 from 180-day rolling baseline). Bar height = SPY return over the the next year, signed by signal direction. Dashed line = average across fires.
shaded cell = each row's strongest horizon (green = bullish forward return, red = bearish)“same direction” means the asset moved the same way the signal moved — opposite of a coin flip.