Watchlist Recap: How Our Oct. 23 Stocks to Watch Played Out
By Tech & Money Press · Recap of our Stocks to Watch for Friday, October 23, 2026
Every night we publish key levels for the next trading day. Here is how Friday’s list played out, including the setups that didn’t work. All prices are regular-session data from Webull unless noted.
The Scorecard
| Ticker | Friday close | Day range | What happened vs. our levels | Result |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| CCI | $85.97 (+9.1%) | $85.00–$91.45 | Gap held; topped above $90, never tested $83.26 | ✅ |
| NOK | $8.14 (+3.3%) | $8.04–$8.27 | Opened above $8.00 and held it; stalled before $8.62 | ✅ |
| JBLU | $2.625 (-0.9%) | $2.48–$2.69 | Dipped just under $2.50, held well above $2.40 | ✅ |
| XLAB | $3.35 (-28.9%) | $3.22–$4.48 | Lost $4.21 at the open and $3.84 by 10 a.m. | ❌ |
| AARD | $1.39 (-64.8%) | $1.39–$3.00 | Pre-market data release erased the gap before the open | ❌ |
Crown Castle (CCI) – The headline gap held
We said this was a headline move and the test was whether it held into the open. It did. CCI opened at $91.02, above our $90 round number, and spiked to $91.45 in the first minutes before sellers stepped in. By 10:45 a.m. ET it had dropped to $85.13, below our first resistance at $87.00 (the after-hours high). The stock bounced back to $88.26 before noon, then spent most of the afternoon pinned just under $87. A late push to $87.15 failed around 3 p.m., and CCI slipped to a $85.00 low before closing at $85.97, up 9.1%.
Our first support at $83.26 (Oct. 16 high) was never tested, and the gap down to $78.83 stayed wide open. After noon, $87.00 acted as a ceiling, and every push above it was sold. Remember, the report was about talks, not a signed lease, which is why chasing the opening spike above $90 was the riskiest way to trade it.
Nokia (NOK) – $8.00 flipped to support
We named $8.00 (after-hours high) as the first test on a bounce and $8.62 (Thursday’s high) as the bigger one, with $7.78 as first support. NOK opened at $8.08, already above $8.00, dipped only to $8.04 in the first 15 minutes, and made its high of $8.27 by 10 a.m. ET. After that it traded in a tight $8.08–$8.20 range and closed at $8.14 (+3.3%). It never got close to $8.62.
The bounce came without a retest of $7.78, so the better signal was $8.00 holding as support. Volume dropped to 84.7M from Thursday’s 207.4M, so the selling calmed down, but buyers didn’t push hard either.
JetBlue (JBLU) – The support zone held
We said $2.50 was first support and $2.40 (the record low) was the key level, with $2.85 as the first test on the upside. JBLU dipped to $2.48 around 10:15 a.m. ET, two cents under $2.50, and bounced to $2.69 by 11 a.m. It stayed well below $2.85 and drifted in a $2.57–$2.64 range for most of the afternoon before closing at $2.625 (-0.9%). The record low held. JetBlue reports Q3 results on Oct. 27, which is the next big catalyst.
Exascale Labs (XLAB) – Supports broke at the open
We named $4.21 (after-hours low) and $3.84 (Oct. 16 high) as supports and said we would wait for the first pullback to hold. It never did. XLAB faded in pre-market from as high as $5.13, opened at $4.37, and broke $4.21 in the first 15 minutes. It lost $3.84 by 10 a.m. ET and kept sliding to a $3.22 low around 1 p.m. It closed at $3.35, down 28.9%, and never came close to our $5.06 resistance.
This is the risk with low-float runners after a 73% day. When the first support breaks, there is often no floor until much lower. Waiting for a level to hold kept traders out of the long side.
Aardvark Therapeutics (AARD) – The data release reversed the move
We flagged that the 8:00 a.m. webcast landed in the pre-market session and could move the stock either way. The move came even earlier. At 7:00 a.m. ET, Aardvark released exploratory data from its terminated HERO and open-label extension trials. The CEO said the partial data were “not sufficient to draw definitive conclusions.” The company plans to ask the FDA for a meeting on a new Phase 3 design and expects to resume Prader-Willi clinical work in 2027.
AARD was trading near $4.86 right before the release and dropped as low as $2.28 in pre-market. Both of our supports ($4.54 and $4.26) were gone before the bell. It opened at $2.99, never got back above $3.00, and slid all day to close at its low of $1.39, down 64.8% and at a new 52-week low.
Takeaways
Three of the five names respected our levels, and both misses were small caps. Unlike Thursday, the broad market wasn’t the problem: SPY slipped 0.5% and QQQ finished flat. The two large caps with clear news (CCI and NOK) held their gains, while the small caps gave up their momentum as soon as early support failed. That is why we wait for a level to hold after the open instead of buying pre-market strength.
Our next Stocks to Watch list comes out before Monday’s open.
Disclaimer: This article is for informational and educational purposes only and is not financial advice. Tech & Money Press is not a registered investment advisor. Past performance of any level or setup does not guarantee future results. Trading stocks involves risk, including the loss of your investment. Do your own research and consult a licensed professional before making any investment decisions.
Sources: Price data from Webull (regular session and pre-market, Oct. 23, 2026). Levels from our Oct. 23 Stocks to Watch. Aardvark data: company press release (GlobeNewswire, Oct. 23, 2026).