Is the Nasdaq in a Correction After November 5?

Several reports said the Nasdaq entered correction territory on November 5, 2026, meaning it was more than 10% below its record. Whether it is officially in a correction depends on the index you use and on the close, not the intraday low, and the closing numbers were not available when this was written.

• Reported: the Nasdaq Composite was down 4.2% at 11:19 a.m. to 24,665.60, and the Nasdaq-100 was reported down 6.24% later in the day.
• Our data: before the drop, 59% of the 487 stocks we track were already at least 10% below their 52-week high on October 30 while the S&P 500 was only 3% from its peak.

This is analysis, not a recommendation. Figures for November 5 are as reported and differ by source and time of day.

What is a stock market correction?

A correction is a fall of at least 10% from a recent high, and a bear market is a fall of at least 20%. These are conventions that journalists and analysts use, not rules written by any exchange or regulator. The 10% mark is round, easy to compute and easy to remember, which is why it stuck.

The high is measured from the record close, and the fall is most often judged on closing prices. That detail matters on a day like November 5, when the intraday numbers moved sharply and then moved again.

What did the Nasdaq actually do on November 5?

Reports differ because they were written at different times and refer to different indexes. The Nasdaq Composite is the broad index of Nasdaq-listed stocks. The Nasdaq-100 holds the 100 largest non-financial ones, so it carries more of the big technology and chip names and moved further.

One outlet described the Composite as more than 10% below its record close at 11:19 a.m. If that is right, the record close was above about 27,400, which is arithmetic from the reported level and not a published figure. It would also mean the index was already about 6% below its record before the day began.

Does an intraday drop count as a correction?

Usually not. Most data providers and commentators confirm a correction only when an index closes at least 10% below its record close. An intraday low below that mark is described as "in correction territory," which is the phrase the reports used.

The difference is not pedantic. Indexes often rebound from a sharp low, and a close above the line means the correction never became official that day.

Our own weekly refresh brings in closing prices on Saturday, and we will update this post when it does. Until then the honest answer is that the Nasdaq-100 almost certainly closed in correction territory if the 6.24% drop held, and that the Composite is less certain.

Why is the Nasdaq-100 down more than the S&P 500?

Because the Nasdaq-100 has no banks, utilities, or energy producers to cushion it and has a heavier weight in chips. The S&P 500 holds all sectors. On November 5 the Dow was reported down only 0.8% in the morning while the Nasdaq was down about 3%.

The Dow is also price-weighted, so a handful of high-priced stocks such as Apple decide its direction, and Apple was reported to be doing relatively well. That is the rotation described in What are AI landlords and why are they rising?

Was the market already weak before November 5?

Under the surface, yes. The S&P 500 fund was only 3.0% below its October 6 high on October 30, which looks calm. But on the same date, 59% of the 487 stocks we track were at least 10% below their own 52-week high, and 32% were at least 20% below. The median stock was 12.9% below its high.

The index was held up by a few large stocks. Apple was 1% below its high and Microsoft 4%, while Alphabet was 30% below, Broadcom 32%, Qualcomm 34%, Netflix 46% and Applied Materials 46%.

Which parts of the market were already in correction?

The damage was concentrated in technology, chips and communication companies, and it was thin in health care and energy.

So the Nasdaq's 10% fall is the headline version of something that was already visible stock by stock. Chips specifically: an equal-weight basket of 18 chip stocks was 23.9% below its June 22 peak on October 30, which makes it a bear-market-sized decline by the 20% convention before November 5 began.

What have past corrections done next?

For the broad market we have two since the S&P 500 fund data begins in 2021. Both went well beyond 10%, but the timeline differs a lot.

After crossing -10%, the 2022 episode fell another 17.0% and the 2025 episode another 10.0%. Twenty trading days after the cross, the S&P 500 was +4.7% in 2022 and -4.9% in 2025, and after 60 days it was -8.8% and +8.8%. The pattern is not consistent, and two cases are not a statistical sample.

Chips correct far more often. Our equal-weight chip basket has had eight 10% falls since late 2021, an average of one every seven months, and four of them were deeper than 19%. The deepest two, in 2022 and from July 2024 to April 2025, were both about 41%.

What should you do with a correction headline?

Use it as a prompt to check your own position rather than as a signal. A correction label says nothing about your holdings unless they are the stocks that fell.

• Check the close. An intraday low is a mood, not a record. Wait for the closing figure.
• Check your concentration. If a third of your portfolio is chips, a chip correction is your correction. How much of your portfolio moves with chip stocks? shows how to measure it.
• Check conditions, not just prices. Our Crash Indicator reads credit stress, valuation and trend, and tells you whether the backdrop looks fragile. What the Crash Indicator read before the midterm rally shows what it said last week.
• Decide your rule before the drop. A plan made calmly beats a decision made in a headline.

None of that predicts the next move. It is a way to turn a loud day into a short list of things you can check.

Sources and data notes

• Investing.com (November 5, 2026): Nasdaq at 11:19 a.m. and the correction wording
• The Private Banker (November 5, 2026): morning index moves
• TradingKey market recap (November 5, 2026): November 4 closes
• Crash Indicator on this site: conditions behind larger declines

The Nasdaq-100 figure of 6.24% was relayed from a report we could not open directly. Correction history uses the S&P 500 fund (SPY) closing prices from August 2021 without dividends, and a chip basket of 18 equal-weighted stocks, because this site does not hold Nasdaq index or QQQ history. Our data runs to October 30. This is educational content, not investment advice.

Nasdaq correction FAQ

Next step: open the Crash Indicator and compare today's headline with the conditions it tracks, so you can see whether the backdrop looks fragile or only the price does.