At the November 2, 2026 close of 681.09, $QQQ's 14-day Average True Range was 13.17 points, or 1.93% of price. That puts a 2 x ATR trailing stop at 654.75, which is 3.87% below the close, and a 3 x ATR stop at 641.58, 5.80% below. The chandelier versions, measured from the 762.86 high of October 6, sit at 736.52 (2 x) and 723.35 (3 x). Both are above the close: a long position run on the chandelier rule has already been stopped out.
The 2 x chandelier first broke on a closing basis on October 13, 2026, and the 3 x version on October 14. $QQQ has not closed back above either level since. Below: the November 2 calculation step by step, a table of every level, the volatility backdrop, and what the numbers leave out. The general method, with ten other tickers, is in the ATR trailing stop guide. More explainers are in the Analysis section.
QQQ's ATR at the November 2, 2026 close, step by step
All figures come from Nasdaq.com historical data for $QQQ, the Invesco ETF that tracks the Nasdaq-100. According to Invesco, that index is made up of the 100 largest non-financial companies traded on the Nasdaq. The method is J. Welles Wilder's, as laid out by StockCharts ChartSchool.
Step 1, true range. On November 2, $QQQ traded between 680.33 and 699.43 after closing at 690.49 on October 30. High minus low was 19.10. The high minus the prior close was 8.94, and the low minus the prior close was 10.16. True range is the largest of the three, so 19.10.
Step 2, Wilder's ATR(14). ATR at the October 30 close was 12.7138. The update is (prior ATR x 13 + the current session's true range) / 14. That gives (12.7138 x 13 + 19.10) / 14 = 13.17.
Step 3, ATR %. 13.17 / 681.09 = 1.93% of price.
Step 4, the stops. 2 x ATR is 26.34 points and 3 x ATR is 39.51. Subtract those from the close for a fixed-multiple stop. For the chandelier stop, subtract them from the highest high of the last 22 sessions, which ran from October 2 to November 2. That high was 762.86, set on October 6, the same day $QQQ posted its 52-week closing high of 759.66.
Every QQQ stop level at the November 2, 2026 close
| Rule | Formula | Level | Close vs level |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2 x ATR from close | 681.09 - 2 x 13.17 | 654.75 | 3.87% above |
| 3 x ATR from close | 681.09 - 3 x 13.17 | 641.58 | 5.80% above |
| 2 x chandelier | 762.86 - 2 x 13.17 | 736.52 | 7.53% below |
| 3 x chandelier | 762.86 - 3 x 13.17 | 723.35 | 5.84% below |
| Textbook chandelier, ATR(22) | 762.86 - 3 x 12.26 | 726.07 | 6.19% below |
The two families answer different questions. A stop measured from the close is what a position opened at the November 2 close would use: it allows 26 to 40 points of room against an average true range of 13.17. A chandelier stop is for a position that has been riding the trend, and it measures room from the best price the trend reached. As of November 2, that best price is 10.34% above the close, which is why every chandelier level sits overhead.
The last row uses the published chandelier setting. ChartSchool's chandelier exit page gives it as the 22-day high minus ATR(22) x 3, with ATR(22) at 12.26 on November 2. It lands within three points of the ATR(14) version, and the close is below both.
When the QQQ chandelier stop fired
On a closing basis, the timeline from the Nasdaq data runs like this:
- October 13, 2026: $QQQ closed at 743.57, below the 2 x chandelier level of 745.18. The 2 x rule was out.
- October 14, 2026: it closed at 728.95 against a 3 x level of 734.56, and against a ratcheted 3 x stop of 736.35, the highest the level had reached. The 3 x rule was out.
- October 15 to November 2, 2026: no close back above the 3 x level. The nearest miss was October 28, when the 725.61 close was 4.17 points short of 729.78.
The ratchet matters here. The raw 3 x level has slipped from 736.35 on October 13 to 723.35 on November 2, while the 22-day high stayed at 762.86. The whole slide came from ATR rising from 8.84 to 13.17. A trailing stop that followed the raw formula down would have kept moving away from price. A ratcheted stop for a long position stays at its highest value, 736.35 in this case.
Why QQQ's stops got wider: the ATR backdrop
$QQQ's ATR has risen 49% since October 13, 2026, and 24.9% since October 16. The biggest single-day jumps came on October 22 and October 30:
| Session (2026) | Close | True range | ATR(14) | ATR % |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| October 16 | 709.80 | 20.77 | 10.55 | 1.49% |
| October 22 | 704.47 | 23.30 | 11.79 | 1.67% |
| October 28 | 725.61 | 5.84 | 11.03 | 1.52% |
| October 29 | 715.34 | 13.99 | 11.24 | 1.57% |
| October 30 | 690.49 | 31.89 | 12.71 | 1.84% |
| November 2 | 681.09 | 19.10 | 13.17 | 1.93% |
October 30 shows why true range uses the prior close. $QQQ opened at 697.21, 2.53% below the October 29 close of 715.34, and traded only 15.18 points from high to low. The distance from the prior close to the low was 31.89 points, though, and that gap-inclusive figure is what entered the average. That was the largest true range of the 22-session window.
In context, 1.93% is elevated but not extreme. Across the 2,498 sessions with an ATR reading from November 23, 2016 to November 2, 2026, the median ATR % was 1.49%. The November 2 reading was higher than 70% of them. The 12-month range was 1.18% to 2.32%. The 10-year extremes were 0.58% on May 16, 2017 and 6.40% on March 20, 2020. By calendar year, the median ran from 0.83% in 2017 to 2.71% in 2022. The 2026 year-to-date median is 1.63%.
What the stop distance means for position size
The stop distance sets the risk per share, and that sets how many shares fit a fixed dollar risk. As an illustration only, a $1,000 risk budget divided by the 2 x distance of 26.34 points allows about 38 shares at the November 2 close. Divided by the 3 x distance of 39.51 points, it allows about 25 shares. The wider stop survives more noise but carries a third fewer shares. The full arithmetic is in the position sizing formula guide.
The limits of these numbers
- Price-only data. Nasdaq.com prices are not adjusted for dividends or splits. A check of the 10-year series found no split, and every bar is internally consistent. Dividends, which nudge the price down on each ex-dividend date, are not adjusted out.
- Closing basis. Every breach above is close versus level. A resting stop order works on intraday prices and can fire on a different day.
- Gaps. The October 30 open was 2.53% below the prior close. A stop order sitting between those two prices would have filled at the open, below its trigger.
- No costs or taxes. Commissions, spreads, slippage and taxes are excluded.
- A snapshot, not a forecast. These levels describe the November 2, 2026 close and change with every new bar.
For daily coverage of $QQQ and the Nasdaq-100 trend, see the Traders On Trend homepage.
Bull/Bear Verdict
Bull Case: Close-based ATR stops give a position opened at the November 2, 2026 close a defined, volatility-scaled exit: 654.75 at 2 x or 641.58 at 3 x. The chandelier rule did its job by taking a trend-follower out on October 13 or 14, above every close since.
Bear Case: ATR has jumped 49% in three weeks, so every stop is now further away in points, and gaps like October 30's can fill well past any level. ATR describes past ranges, not the next one, and the multiplier remains a judgment call.
FAQ
What is QQQ's ATR right now?
At the November 2, 2026 close, $QQQ's Wilder ATR(14) was 13.17 points, or 1.93% of the 681.09 close. ATR(22) was 12.26. Both figures change with each new session.
Where is a 2x or 3x ATR stop on QQQ?
Measured from the November 2, 2026 close, 2 x ATR is 654.75 (3.87% below) and 3 x ATR is 641.58 (5.80% below). Measured from the 22-session high of 762.86, the chandelier levels are 736.52 and 723.35, both above the close.
Why is the QQQ chandelier stop above the price?
Because $QQQ fell more than 3 ATRs from its October 6, 2026 high. Once the close drops under the chandelier level, the stop has already fired. On a closing basis, that happened on October 13 for 2 x and October 14 for 3 x.
Should the stop move down as ATR rises?
Not for a long position. Rising ATR pulls the raw formula lower, from 736.35 to 723.35 for the 3 x chandelier between October 13 and November 2, 2026. A trailing stop keeps the highest level it has reached.