The half, month by month (SPY and QQQ, recomputed identically in one query)

Name: The half, month by month (SPY and QQQ, recomputed identically in one query)
Creator: Strasmore
Published: 2026-07-26
License: https://www.strasmore.com/terms/

Answered against 22 years of US equities and 12 years of US options data and published with the query that produced it. This result is stored as of 2026-07-26, from Market Recap: H1 2026.

as of 2026-07-26 ranking 12×4read in context →

The half, month by month (SPY and QQQ, recomputed identically in one query) — 12 rows by 4 columns, computed 2026-07-26 from US exchange, SIP and OPRA data.
period_start	ticker	month_return_pct	month_close
2026-01-01	QQQ	0.3	621.81
2026-01-01	SPY	0.9	691.85
2026-02-01	QQQ	-1.8	607.45
2026-02-01	SPY	-0.5	686.23
2026-03-01	QQQ	-3.6	577.14
2026-03-01	SPY	-4.2	650.24
2026-04-01	QQQ	14.8	667.6
2026-04-01	SPY	9.9	718.43
2026-05-01	QQQ	10.3	738.25
2026-05-01	SPY	4.9	756.4
2026-06-01	QQQ	-0.2	735.76
2026-06-01	SPY	-1.2	746.32

Rows × columns: 12 × 4
Period covered: 2026-01-01 to 2026-06-01
Computed: 2026-07-26
Completeness: No missing values
Source: US exchange, SIP and OPRA market data
Licence: Strasmore terms · free, no signup
Formats: JSON · CSV · the SQL below

What each column holds

Column definitions for The half, month by month (SPY and QQQ, recomputed identically in one query), derived from the stored result.
Column	Type	Range	Notes
`period_start`	date	2026-01-01 to 2026-06-01
`ticker`	text	2 distinct values (QQQ, SPY)
`month_return_pct`	number	-4.2 to 14.8	percent
`month_close`	number	577.14 to 756.4	US dollars

Computed from Strasmore's warehouse of US exchange, SIP and OPRA market data. Equity prices are delayed; options greeks and implied volatility are end-of-day. This result is stored, not recomputed on load — it is exactly the numbers that were returned on 2026-07-26, and the query below is what returned them.

the exact SQL behind every number

SELECT toString(toStartOfMonth(toDate(toTimeZone(window_start, 'America/New_York')))) AS period_start, ticker,
    round((argMaxIf(toFloat64(close), window_start, (toHour(toTimeZone(window_start, 'America/New_York')) * 60 + toMinute(toTimeZone(window_start, 'America/New_York'))) BETWEEN 570 AND 959) / argMinIf(toFloat64(open), window_start, (toHour(toTimeZone(window_start, 'America/New_York')) * 60 + toMinute(toTimeZone(window_start, 'America/New_York'))) BETWEEN 570 AND 959) - 1) * 100, 1) AS month_return_pct,
    round(argMaxIf(toFloat64(close), window_start, (toHour(toTimeZone(window_start, 'America/New_York')) * 60 + toMinute(toTimeZone(window_start, 'America/New_York'))) BETWEEN 570 AND 959), 2) AS month_close
FROM global_markets.delayed_stocks_minute_aggs
WHERE ticker IN ('SPY', 'QQQ')
  AND window_start >= toDateTime('2026-01-01 00:00:00') AND window_start < toDateTime('2026-07-01 00:00:00')
GROUP BY period_start, ticker
ORDER BY period_start, ticker

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