October can be a scary month for stocks. Here’s what investors need to watch this year.

October has long carried a reputation for stock-market turbulence, and this year investors have a clear set of reference points if volatility returns. The month's history is well documented: the 1929 crash, the 1987 selloff, and the 2008 financial crisis all unfolded in October, which helps explain why the month's volatility is often discussed more than it is statistically proven.

That reputation matters for market psychology. When investors expect choppy conditions, they may react more sharply to routine news, and that sensitivity itself can amplify price swings. Still, seasonality is a tendency, not a forecast, and October has also delivered strong gains in many years.

What to watch this year: the pace of economic data, corporate earnings, and any shift in interest-rate expectations, since those fundamentals typically drive markets more than the calendar. For long-term investors, the practical takeaway is that a scary headline is not the same as a broken strategy.