Every three months, Wall Street spends about six weeks finding out whether the profits it has paid for actually showed up. The October round covers the July to September quarter, and hopes are unusually high this time. Analysts expect a third straight quarter of profit growth above 25%, driven by the AI spending boom and a jump in oil prices.
Following it is harder than it sounds. Each company picks its own date, and most of the big reports come out after the US market closes, which is the middle of the night in Asia. Inflation data and a Federal Reserve meeting also fall in the same weeks, and they can move prices just as much.
What matters for a trader is when each report lands, what the first results said and how prices reacted. Knowing how to read an earnings report turns each release into numbers you can check. Crypto traders have one more question, which is whether any of it moves bitcoin. BloFin's own price data from the season's first week gives an early answer.
When is the October 2026 earnings season?
The October 2026 earnings season runs from October 13, when JPMorgan and the other big US banks reported, to late November, when Walmart and Nvidia close it out. It covers the July to September quarter, known as the third quarter or Q3, and most S&P 500 companies report in the weeks that follow.
The banks are the traditional start, though they are not the first to report. Companies whose quarters end in August report earlier, so 19 S&P 500 members had already posted third-quarter numbers by October 9, and 16 of them beat earnings forecasts (source: FactSet, October 9, 2026). The last week of October brings the biggest names, when Microsoft, Alphabet and Amazon all report.
Not every company calls these results "Q3". Each one names its quarters by its own fiscal year, so the same months carry different labels:
Company | Its name for this report | Months covered |
|---|---|---|
JPMorgan, Tesla, Meta, Alphabet, Amazon | Third quarter 2026 | July to September 2026 |
Apple | Fourth quarter of fiscal 2026 | July to September 2026 |
Microsoft | First quarter of fiscal 2027 | July to September 2026 |
Nvidia, Walmart | Third quarter of fiscal 2027 | August to October 2026 |
That is why Nvidia and Walmart report a month after everyone else. Their fiscal years end in late January, so their third quarter closes at the end of October.
Key report dates and times
Most of the big technology reports land after the close on three evenings: October 21, 28 and 29. "Before the open" means before 9.30AM ET. "After the close" means after 4PM ET, which is 8PM UTC in October and 9PM UTC from November 2, once US daylight saving time ends.
Date | Companies | Timing (ET) |
|---|---|---|
October 13 (reported) | JPMorgan, Wells Fargo, Goldman Sachs, Citigroup, UnitedHealth, Johnson & Johnson | Before the open |
October 14 (reported) | Bank of America, Morgan Stanley, BlackRock, ASML | Before the open |
October 15 (reported) | TSMC | Before the open |
October 20 | Netflix | After the close |
October 21 | Tesla, Meta, IBM | After the close |
October 27 | Robinhood | After the close |
October 28 | Microsoft, Alphabet | After the close |
October 29 | Amazon, Intel, Coinbase, Strategy | After the close |
November 2 | Apple | After the close |
November 3 | AMD | After the close |
November 4 | Circle | Before the open |
November 19 | Walmart | Before the open |
Late November (expected) | Nvidia | After the close |
Each upcoming date comes from the company itself: Netflix (source: Netflix), Tesla (source: Tesla), IBM (source: IBM), Robinhood (source: Robinhood), Microsoft (source: Microsoft), Alphabet (source: Alphabet), Amazon (source: Amazon), Intel (source: Intel), Apple (source: MacRumors, on Apple's investor relations page), AMD (source: AMD) and Walmart (source: Walmart). Nvidia has not yet set its date. Last year it gave notice on October 29 and reported on November 19 (source: Nvidia, October 29, 2025).
Dates can move, so the company's own notice is the one to trust. Meta, for example, set its October 21 date only on October 12 (source: Meta).
What analysts expect from the Q3 2026 season
Analysts expect S&P 500 companies to grow their earnings 29.6% from a year earlier, up from 26.7% at the end of June, with revenue up 12.4% (source: FactSet, October 9, 2026). That would be the third quarter in a row of growth above 25%. It is also more than double the index's 10-year average of 12.6%.
The odd part is which way the forecasts moved. In a normal quarter, analysts cut their numbers as the quarter goes on, which lowers the bar a company has to clear. This time they raised them by 1.4% (source: FactSet, October 9, 2026). On top of that, 72 companies gave positive guidance for the quarter and 44 gave negative guidance, the highest number of companies issuing positive guidance for a quarter since FactSet began tracking in 2006. Of those 72, 44 are tech companies. A lowered bar helps explain why 78% of companies have beaten their forecasts over the past five years (source: FactSet, October 9, 2026), so this season starts with a harder test than most.
FactSet's figures compare this quarter with the long-run averages for the S&P 500 (source: FactSet, October 9, 2026):
Measure | Q3 2026 expected (October 9) | 5-year average | 10-year average |
|---|---|---|---|
Earnings growth from a year earlier | 29.6% | 13.3% | 12.6% |
Revenue growth from a year earlier | 12.4% | 8.7% | 6.3% |
Change in estimates during the quarter | +1.4% | −2.2% | −2.5% |
Two sectors do most of the work. Energy earnings are expected to grow 121.1% after oil rose about 30% in the quarter, to $90.42 a barrel (source: FactSet, October 9, 2026). Tech earnings are expected to grow 65.1%, but that figure leans on chipmakers. Without the chip industry, tech growth falls to 24.4%, and Nvidia and Micron have led the rise in tech forecasts since June (source: FactSet, October 9, 2026). All 11 sectors are expected to grow.
That narrow base is the season's main risk. When hopes are this high and rest on so few names, a handful of chip and AI reports can swing the whole index. A merely good result from one of them can read as a letdown.
FactSet also runs its own projection. If growth rises during the season by its five-year average, as it usually does when companies beat, the quarter would come in at 35.6%, the most conservative of FactSet's three estimates (source: FactSet, October 9, 2026). That is an estimate built on past patterns, and it changes every week as reports arrive.
Week one: The big banks
The six biggest US banks reported on October 13 and 14, and the results were better than the share prices suggest. Goldman Sachs, Wells Fargo and Citigroup all beat their earnings forecasts, yet all six banks closed lower on the day they reported. That is what high hopes look like in practice.
The forecasts for JPMorgan, Goldman Sachs, Wells Fargo and Citigroup come from the London Stock Exchange Group's data business (LSEG), as reported by CNBC (source: CNBC, October 13, 2026). Bank of America's are the ones Investing.com used (source: Investing.com, October 14, 2026). Share moves come from CNBC's closing report for JPMorgan and Goldman Sachs (source: CNBC market wrap, October 13, 2026). Those for Wells Fargo (source: Yahoo Finance, Wells Fargo price history), Citigroup (source: Yahoo Finance, Citigroup price history) and Bank of America (source: Yahoo Finance, Bank of America price history) come from Yahoo Finance. Bank of America's reported figure includes a $1.2 billion charge for a regulatory settlement (source: Bank of America, Q3 2026 release).
Each bank's earnings per share (EPS) and revenue sit next to the consensus estimate, which is the average analyst forecast. The share move runs from the previous day's close:
Report date | Bank | EPS reported | EPS estimate | Revenue reported | Revenue estimate | Shares on the day |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
October 13 | JPMorgan | $5.57 | $5.90 | $50.91 billion | $51.22 billion | −0.9% |
October 13 | Goldman Sachs | $17.01 | $13.02 | $18.68 billion | $16.71 billion | −0.2% |
October 13 | Wells Fargo | $1.87 | $1.85 | $21.87 billion | $22.30 billion | −3% |
October 13 | Citigroup | $2.85 | $2.66 | $23.85 billion | $23.72 billion | −5.6% |
October 14 | Bank of America | 1.08adjusted(0.91 reported) | $1.10 | $30.0 billion | $30.58 billion | −4.8% |
Morgan Stanley, the sixth, earned $3.03 a share on $20.3 billion of revenue (source: Morgan Stanley, Q3 2026 release). It closed 2.7% lower on October 14 (source: Yahoo Finance, Morgan Stanley price history), the day an inflation report pulled the whole market down.
JPMorgan missed on both earnings and revenue, partly because bond trading came in about $550 million below the StreetAccount estimate and costs grew faster than revenue. But it raised its 2026 forecast for net interest income to about $106.2 billion, from $105.5 billion (source: CNBC, October 13, 2026). On BloFin, the JPMUSDT Perpetual fell 4.6% in the 30 minutes after the 6.30AM ET release and was back above its starting price by 7.15AM. It ended the regular session down 0.9% from the previous day's 4PM price.
Goldman Sachs moved the other way first. It earned $17.01 a share against an LSEG forecast of $13.02, and BloFin's GSUSDT Perpetual climbed to 936.00 in the hour after the release, about 4.8% above the previous day's 4PM price. By 4PM it had given almost all of that back and finished at 894.43, up 0.1%, while the shares in New York closed slightly lower. Citigroup beat on both earnings and revenue and still had the worst day of the six.
The same thing happened outside the banks. UnitedHealth earned an adjusted $4.69 a share and raised its full-year outlook (source: UnitedHealth, Q3 2026 release), against the $4.14 analysts expected (source: CNBC market wrap, October 13, 2026). Its shares jumped before the open, then closed slightly lower (source: CNBC market wrap, October 13, 2026). Johnson & Johnson beat on revenue and raised its guidance, but its medical devices business missed forecasts (source: CNBC, October 13, 2026, Johnson & Johnson), and the shares closed 5.7% lower (source: Yahoo Finance, Johnson & Johnson price history).
The bank numbers themselves were healthy. Net interest income rose 13% at JPMorgan (source: JPMorgan, Q3 2026 release), and deal-making and equities trading lifted Goldman Sachs's revenue (source: Goldman Sachs, Q3 2026 release). The falls came from the gap between strong numbers and even stronger hopes, plus one more event on October 14.
Why inflation data moved markets more than the banks
The biggest move of the season's first week came from inflation, not earnings. On October 14, a hotter-than-expected consumer price index (CPI) report sent the S&P 500 down 1.1%, its biggest one-day drop since July 29 (source: Yahoo Finance, S&P 500 price history). It hit crypto harder than any bank report had.
Consumer prices rose 0.6% in September and 3.7% from a year earlier, against the 3.6% that economists polled by Dow Jones expected (source: CNBC inflation report, October 14, 2026). Core inflation, which leaves out food and energy, came in at 2.6%, a tenth of a point above forecasts. Gasoline rose 9.1% in the month and made up over half of the rise (source: US Bureau of Labor Statistics). The Fed had already raised rates in September, and futures traders lifted the odds of another increase at the October 27-28 meeting to about 54% (source: CNBC inflation report, October 14, 2026).
BloFin's perpetuals show the gap between the two days. Over the 24 hours to 4PM ET on October 13, the busiest day for bank reports, the SPYUSDT Perpetual was flat and bitcoin rose 0.5%. Over the next 24 hours, which took in the 8.30AM ET CPI release, SPYUSDT fell 1.1%, the QQQUSDT Perpetual fell 1.9% and the BTCUSDT Perpetual fell 1.8%, with ether down even more.
The next morning showed how fast the mood can turn. On October 15, bitcoin dipped below $80,000 for the first time in a month, then bounced with stocks as bond yields dropped sharply (source: CoinDesk, October 15, 2026). The 10-year Treasury yield fell more than 0.1 percentage point, to about 5.09% (source: CNBC, October 15, 2026).
Rate news reaches bitcoin the same way earnings do, through the mood toward risk, but it hits every asset at once. Trading gold around Fed meetings and CPI releases explains how these releases move prices, and two more land inside this season. The Fed meets on October 27-28 and announces its decision on October 28, the same day Microsoft and Alphabet report (source: Federal Reserve). The October CPI report follows on November 10 at 8.30AM ET (source: US Bureau of Labor Statistics, CPI release schedule).
How crypto has traded this season so far
Bitcoin has tracked the stock market loosely in the season's first week. It fell with stocks on the inflation report and won back part of the loss the next day, while the companies whose business is crypto moved much further. Robinhood, Coinbase, Strategy and Circle each moved more than 5% on at least one day.
On BloFin, the October 14 sell-off was sharper in these stocks than in bitcoin itself. The HOODUSDT Perpetual fell 8.7% over the 24 hours to 4PM ET. These companies earn more when crypto prices and trading volumes rise, or they hold bitcoin directly, so their shares tend to exaggerate whatever crypto and the wider market are doing. The same stocks led the bounce on October 15.
24 hours to 4PM ET | Bitcoin | Ether | Coinbase | Strategy | Robinhood | Circle |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
October 13 (bank reports) | +0.5% | −0.5% | +0.8% | −0.4% | +1.2% | +0.6% |
October 14 (CPI report) | −1.8% | −3.1% | −4.9% | −5.8% | −8.7% | −5.5% |
October 15 | +0.7% | +0.9% | +6.3% | +5.5% | +3.0% | +9.2% |
Each figure is the change in the BloFin perpetual's price from 4PM ET one day to 4PM ET the next, using hourly closes. Three days are too few to call a pattern, so read them as a record of what happened, not a guide to what comes next. The bigger test comes later, when the four crypto-linked companies report their own results.
Robinhood reports on October 27, and Coinbase on October 29 (source: Coinbase). Strategy, the largest corporate holder of bitcoin, reports the same evening (source: Strategy), and all three report after the close. Circle, which issues the USDC stablecoin, reports before the open on November 4, with a webcast at 8AM ET (source: Circle).
Their reports show how much trading, custody and stablecoin income the crypto market made over the summer, and they can move the mood in crypto more directly than any big tech report. In the July 2026 season, BloFin's data showed bitcoin moving more than usual on each big tech report night, with no reliable direction.
The COINUSDT, MSTRUSDT, HOODUSDT and CRCLUSDT Perpetuals all trade on BloFin next to the BTCUSDT Perpetual, so you can follow a crypto company's report and bitcoin's reaction on one screen.
Big tech reports to watch
The second half of October is when the season picks its direction, because the largest tech companies make up a big share of the S&P 500's earnings and of its expected growth. Most report after the close, so the reaction plays out in after-hours trading, and on BloFin's perpetuals, before New York opens.
The chipmakers behind the AI build-out have already given an early read, and it shows how high the bar is. TSMC reported record profit on October 15. Its revenue rose 41.2% in US dollars to $46.72 billion, and it guided to $52.3 billion to $54.3 billion for the fourth quarter (source: TSMC, Q3 2026 release). Profit and revenue both beat LSEG forecasts (source: CNBC TSMC report, October 15, 2026), yet its US-listed shares fell almost 2% that day (source: Yahoo Finance, TSMC price history). A day earlier, ASML, which makes the machines used to produce advanced chips, said some customers want to place orders for 2029 and even 2030 (source: ASML, Q3 2026 release).
Netflix opens the big tech run on October 20, and Tesla and Meta report on the same evening, October 21. Meta is the largest single source of expected earnings growth in the communication services sector (source: FactSet, October 9, 2026), so its numbers on ads and AI spending matter beyond its own shares. Tesla published its delivery figures on October 2, so the market already knows how many cars it sold. Its earnings add profit margins and the outlook, and trading Tesla around earnings and deliveries shows how its shares have reacted before.
October 28 and 29 are the busiest evenings for big tech. Microsoft and Alphabet report on the 28th, a few hours after the Fed's rate decision. Amazon, Intel, Coinbase and Strategy follow on the 29th. Between them, those two days bring the cloud results of Microsoft, Alphabet and Amazon, a rate decision and two crypto-linked reports. Apple follows on November 2 and AMD on November 3, and Alphabet's earnings reports explained and Apple's earnings reports explained show what two of them report each quarter.
Nvidia closes the season in late November. Nvidia's earnings explained walks through what it reports. With chipmakers carrying most of the tech sector's expected growth (source: FactSet, October 9, 2026), Nvidia's report alone can reset the AI trade. It reaches crypto too. In May 2026, Nvidia's results lifted crypto mining stocks tied to data center demand, even as Nvidia's own shares fell (source: CoinDesk, May 20, 2026).
Trading the October 2026 season on BloFin
BloFin lists perpetual futures on most of the season's big reporters. They include JPMorgan, Goldman Sachs, Netflix, Tesla, Meta, Microsoft, Alphabet, Amazon, Apple, Nvidia, AMD, Intel, IBM, TSMC and ASML, the four crypto-linked companies, and funds that track the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq-100. The full list is in the TradFi assets you can trade on BloFin.
Stock futures on BloFin follow US regular hours, 9.30AM to 4PM ET on weekdays. Outside those hours, and on weekends and market holidays, trading may be limited to reduce-only orders, which can close or shrink a position but cannot open one (source: BloFin, stock futures trading hours). Most of this season's big reports come after the close, so the first and often biggest move can happen while new positions are blocked. Decide before the release whether to hold through it. From November 2, the regular session runs from 2.30PM to 9PM UTC.
Size any position you hold through a report for the gap, not for an average day. JPMorgan's 4.6% drop in half an hour was mild for a season like this one, and in July single stocks moved 7% to 15% on big tech report nights. A stop-loss can fill well past its price when the price gaps, and leverage shrinks the room before liquidation.
Say you open a 1,000 USDT long on the Tesla perpetual before its October 21 report, using 10x leverage, so 100 USDT of your own margin is behind it. After Tesla's July report, BloFin's Tesla perpetual fell 14.6% between 4PM ET and 4PM ET the next day. The same move this time would mean a 146 USDT loss on the position, more than the 100 USDT margin, so it would be liquidated well before the move finished. At 2x, with 500 USDT of margin, the same move costs the same 146 USDT but leaves the position open. How liquidation works and trading news volatility cover both in detail.
Copy trading covers the perpetuals on JPMorgan, Netflix, Tesla, Meta, Microsoft, Alphabet, Amazon, Apple, Nvidia, AMD, IBM, TSMC, Coinbase, Strategy, Robinhood and Circle, and you set how much each copied trader can use. Read how to copy trade on BloFin first.
Looking to trade the October 2026 earnings season? To get started, you'll need to first create a BloFin account, fund your account with cryptocurrency, and navigate to the perpetual page for the company you're following, in report order: JPMUSDT, GSUSDT, ASMLUSDT, TSMUSDT, NFLXUSDT, TSLAUSDT, METAUSDT, IBMUSDT, HOODUSDT, MSFTUSDT, GOOGLUSDT, AMZNUSDT, INTCUSDT, COINUSDT, MSTRUSDT, AAPLUSDT, AMDUSDT, CRCLUSDT or NVDAUSDT, the SPYUSDT or QQQUSDT index-fund perpetuals, or the BTCUSDT Perpetual, or browse the lead traders you can copy on BloFin.
Frequently asked questions
When does the Q3 2026 earnings season end?
The Q3 2026 season has no official end date, and its last big reports are Walmart's on November 19, before the open, and Nvidia's, expected in late November. Most S&P 500 companies report well before then. For a quarter that ended on September 30, a large company's deadline to file its quarterly report with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) is November 9, 40 days later (source: SEC, Form 10-Q).
When does Nvidia report earnings in November 2026?
Nvidia reports its third quarter of fiscal 2027, which covers August to October 2026, in late November after the US market closes. It usually sets the exact date about three weeks ahead. Last year it reported this quarter at about 4.20PM ET, with the call at 5PM ET (source: Nvidia, October 29, 2025).
When does Tesla report Q3 2026 earnings?
Tesla reports its third-quarter 2026 results after the US market closes on Wednesday, October 21, 2026. It holds a question-and-answer webcast at 5.30PM ET, which is 9.30PM UTC. For traders in Singapore or Hong Kong, that webcast starts at 5.30AM on Thursday, October 22.
When does Amazon report Q3 2026 earnings?
Amazon reports its third-quarter 2026 results after the US market closes on Thursday, October 29, 2026, with a conference call at 5PM ET, or 9PM UTC. Amazon announced the date on October 15 (source: Amazon). In Singapore and Hong Kong, the call starts at 5AM on Friday, October 30.
When does Apple report earnings in November 2026?
Apple reports its fourth quarter of fiscal 2026, which covers July to September, on Monday, November 2, 2026, with a conference call at 2PM PT, or 5PM ET. US daylight saving time ends on November 1, so 5PM ET that day is 10PM UTC. That is an hour later in UTC than the October reports.
What is the 3-day rule after earnings?
The 3-day rule is an informal habit of waiting about three trading days after big news, such as an earnings report, before buying or selling, so the first rush of orders can settle. Its best-known published form is a Kiplinger columnist's rule of waiting until the third business day after any news-driven sell-off (source: Kiplinger). It is a rule of thumb, separate from the old T+3 settlement rule, which the SEC has since cut to one business day (source: SEC).
When is the next earnings season?
The next earnings season starts in mid-January 2027 and covers the October to December quarter, again led by the big US banks. For most companies that quarter also ends the year, so many publish full-year results and their first outlook for 2027. The December CPI report is due on January 13, 2027, in the season's opening days (source: US Bureau of Labor Statistics, CPI release schedule).
Researched and written by the BloFin Academy editorial team with AI-assisted drafting. All facts independently verified. Sources include FactSet Earnings Insight, company earnings releases and SEC filings, company announcements of report dates, the US Bureau of Labor Statistics, the Federal Reserve, CNBC, Yahoo Finance and BloFin, current as of October 16, 2026.
Nothing in this article constitutes financial advice, and nothing in it is a recommendation to buy, sell or hold any stock, crypto asset or other instrument. Report dates can change and expected dates may be wrong, and most of this season's big reports arrive outside regular trading hours, when a stock perpetual may be limited to reduce-only orders. A position held through a report can gap past your stop, and a leveraged position can be liquidated and lose all the margin behind it. BloFin services are not available in restricted locations, including the United States. Past performance does not indicate future results. Do your own research and consider your risk tolerance before you trade on BloFin.