FTSE for Friday: why FTSE 100 could break above 11,000 soon
There's a level which has long fascinated independent analyst Alistair Strang, above which he believes the likelihood of a new record high becomes much greater. Here he explains the rationale.
16th October 2026 07:35
by Alistair Strang from Trends and Targets
There’s a reasonable chance this may be one of our reports worth printing for future reference! Despite world events and UK politics, the FTSE 100 feels poised for a period of some gains.
- Invest with ii:Open a Stocks & Shares ISA | Top ISA Funds | Transfer your ISA to ii
Folk with a normal memory for numbers will recall our fascination with 10,908 points for the FTSE, along with a demand the market actually closes a session above such a point to suggest investing in party poppers may be a good idea.
It appears the first steps on such a path may have been taken. Near term, it looks like FTSE 100 movement exceeding 10,869 points shall prove worthwhile, calculating with the potential of a market lift to 10,943 points. Obviously, this should be a useful haul of points, especially as a stop-loss could be positioned at 10,800 points, an almost perfect risk/reward situation.
However, our longer-term secondary beyond 10,943 calculates at 11,059 points. Achieving such should permit the FTSE to actually close above our critical 10,908 point trigger level. This takes us to the reason we’d recommend printing this as the Big Picture now works out a longer-term future destination of 11,299 points as a pretty confident ambition. We don’t often suggest such impressive market gains for the FTSE as possible, but in this instance, a 430-point haul presents itself as probable.
But only if the cards all play the way they should. We’re laying out some strong potentials, but simply applying our usual logic used against shares, believing the FTSE 100 shall adhere to our usual rules.
However, it will still be worth crossing fingers as none of the foregoing is going to happen within a couple of days. In fact, if we muck around with our (usually wrong) timing calculations, it could be around 26 November before this scenario comes to fruition.
Our alternate scenario, questioning what happens if the FTSE wanders below 10,800, suggests the potential of an initial visit to 10,740 with our secondary, if broken, at 10,710. This would effectively place the FTSE 100 in a position of having to do it all again, along with fouling up our upward calculations.
Have a good weekend, hopefully warmer than here in Argyll where we shall not be surprised to see the first dusting of snow above 2,000 feet anytime soon.
Source: Trends and Targets. Past performance is not a guide to future performance.
Alistair Strang has led high-profile and "top secret" software projects since the late 1970s and won the original John Logie Baird Award for inventors and innovators. After the financial crash, he wanted to know "how it worked" with a view to mimicking existing trading formulas and predicting what was coming next. His results speak for themselves as he continually refines the methodology.
Alistair Strang is a freelance contributor and not a direct employee of Interactive Investor. All correspondence is with Alistair Strang, who for these purposes is deemed a third-party supplier. Buying, selling and investing in shares is not without risk. Market and company movement will affect your performance and you may get back less than you invest. Neither Alistair Strang or Interactive Investor will be responsible for any losses that may be incurred as a result of following a trading idea.
These articles are provided for information purposes only. Occasionally, an opinion about whether to buy or sell a specific investment may be provided by third parties. The content is not intended to be a personal recommendation to buy or sell any financial instrument or product, or to adopt any investment strategy as it is not provided based on an assessment of your investing knowledge and experience, your financial situation or your investment objectives. The value of your investments, and the income derived from them, may go down as well as up. You may not get back all the money that you invest. The investments referred to in this article may not be suitable for all investors, and if in doubt, an investor should seek advice from a qualified investment adviser.
Full performance can be found on the company or index summary page on the interactive investor website. Simply click on the company's or index name highlighted in the article.