Charlie Bilello Says “Some Sanity Has Returned to the Market.” What That Means for Your Portfolio
The market's wildest bets just lost billions in paper gains, and one data watcher calls the wreckage healthy. Before you cheer or panic, see which three moves could protect your retirement accounts and what to watch before year-end.
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The most speculative corner of the stock market has taken a hard hit, and a market data voice on X says that’s a healthy sign. On the morning of November 6, 2026, Charlie Bilello of Bilello Capital posted this update: “High Beta Stocks, High Momentum Stocks, and Meme Stocks are down 21%, 27%, and 57% from their 2026 peak mania levels. All are now underperforming the S&P 500 on the year. Some sanity has returned to the market.”
Those drawdowns of 21% for high beta, 27% for momentum and 57% for meme stocks, as compiled by Charlie Bilello, came to a head during one of the harshest stretches of the year.
Why Bilello Sees Sanity After the November 5 Sell-Off
Bilello noted that the S&P 500 fell 4.4% on November 5, its biggest one-day decline since April 4, 2025. He also said the index sat 6% below its October 6 peak, which he counted as the 34th correction of more than 5% since the March 2009 low. The Dow fell, and the Nasdaq entered correction territory as fears of an AI crackdown after the midterms and worries about AI data center spending hit tech shares (Reuters, NPR, Fortune).
Tech absorbed the worst of it. The Invesco QQQ Trust (NASDAQ:QQQ) fell 9.55% in the week ended November 5 and 14.82% over one month. The SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust (NYSEARCA:SPY) lost 4.73% that week. Friday morning brought a pause as dip buyers stepped in (Bloomberg), with QQQ up 1.92% and SPY up 0.94% in early trading.
What High Beta and Momentum Stocks Actually Are
Beta measures how much a stock moves relative to the overall market. A high beta stock swings harder than the index in both directions, so it beats the market in rallies and falls faster in sell-offs. Momentum stocks are the names with the strongest recent price gains, often bought simply because they have been rising. Meme stocks trade on social media enthusiasm more than fundamentals.
Bilello had highlighted the risk earlier in the same thread: “Investors are chasing meme stocks and high beta/high momentum names, just as they did back in 2021. When the crowd acts as if there’s no risk and only reward, that’s a time for prudence.”
The rotation shows up elsewhere in his data. Bilello reported value stocks up 24% in 2026 against growth stocks down 6%. Bilello listed NVIDIA (NASDAQ:NVDA | NVDA Price Prediction) at 26% below its all-time high and Palantir Technologies (NASDAQ:PLTR) at 27% below. He also noted NVIDIA trades at a trailing P/E of 23.
How to Turn Prudence Into Retirement Portfolio Moves
Check concentration. Add up your exposure to speculative names across every account. Retirement savers have already made progress here: Vanguard found the share of plan participants holding concentrated company stock positions in 2024 was one-ninth of the percentage in 2005. The same discipline applies to a handful of hot tech or meme holdings, and knowing when to step back from a mania is half the job (we put both halves, riding it and exiting it, in a free bubble survivor’s handbook).
Rebalance to your targets. Rebalancing cuts what has run ahead and adds to what has fallen behind. With value beating growth this year, many portfolios may have drifted in a direction that looks different from 2025.
Weigh the cost of panic selling. Bilello’s take on the November 5 drop: “While painful, days like today are the primary reason why you earn a higher return from equities than bonds/cash in the long run. This is the price of admission.” On past corrections, he added: “They all seemed like the end of the world at the time.” With U.S. retirement assets at $48.1 trillion as of September 30, 2025, investors selling in a panic can lock in losses that patient savers avoid.
Signals to Track Before Year-End
The macro background remains firm. Bilello reported the unemployment rate fell to 4.1% in October with 165k jobs added, and wrote that the “Fed will hike rates again in December.” Higher rates can pressure high-multiple growth stocks. Watch whether QQQ, up just 5.33% year to date versus 7.49% for SPY, continues to lag, and whether speculative names stay below the broad market into 2027.
Contact [email protected] for any questions or corrections.
Chris Lange is a financial and geopolitical writer with more than a decade of experience covering a myriad of topics. He has published thousands of articles for 24/7 Wall St., with past coverage focused heavily on stocks, IPOs, healthcare, defense, global affairs, and technology.
His work has been quoted, or referenced by a number of outlets including Business Insider, USA Today, Yahoo Finance, MSN, The Motley Fool, and many other publications. A graduate of Southwestern University, he studied business with a focus on investments and has previous experience in banking and startups.
When not reading or writing the news, he is following his passion for Lacrosse, playing chess, or building solar projects with his dad.
