Here fall color this early is a sign of stress. Up there maybe less so but you are probably right. Now it was just transplanted in leaf so I'd expect that.

To be sure you are doing your part, when checking to see if it needs watered stick a finger into the rootball. Sometimes they'll hold or shed water at different rates than your yard due to the different soil types. It can be difficult to judge.

Far as the stakes, I dunno but I suspect at least into the spring. With my smaller transplants if they need staked it seems to be a year long thing.

Make sure that you have the tree planted at the correct depth. There should be part of the root flare visible above the ground level. If not, then it's planted too deep and future problems can occur because of that.

Don't be alarmed if the tree turns color and looses it's leaves. Winter buds will begin to form, roots will elongate and the tree will continue to develop even though you can't see a lot of what's happening this time of year.

When you say "red in the leaves" do you mean the entire leaf is starting to change red? Or just the tips of the leaf are red while most of the leaf remains green still? I ask this because it is a common sight in my nursery at this time of year to see the Freeman maples show little hints of red leaf tips all over. Even while many are still pushing some last minute new growth.

Autumn Blaze is not typically an early fall color tree. They tend to color up after most true red maples (acer rubrum) have already peaked and lost their leaves. The weather has been screwy this year. Just on my short drive to work I see more than a few larger trees already starting to go into full color change. Definitely 3 or 4 weeks earlier than normal for these.