Hindsight Markets Recaps Small-cap stocks on August 18, 2026
PFSA, August 18: ten halts and $28.32
PFSA opened up 95%, ran to $28.32 through ten halts, and held most of the move into the close.
What happened
Before the open
We found no news or filing before the move. Before the bell it reached $12.87, on 6.3M shares.
The open
It opened up 95%, at $8.84. It ran to $28.32 by 3:33 p.m.
The halts
Each halt froze the price and reopened it somewhere new. The exchange halted it ten times, from 9:36 a.m. to 3:46 p.m. The biggest jump was the reopen after 10:04 a.m.: 8% below the last trade before it.
The close
It closed at $26.81, 5% under its high.
What to take from it: A gap that holds above its open can keep going: this one held most of its move to the close.
The details
How it traded, step by step
Gap and go. It gapped up 95.1% to $8.84 at the open, ran from the open to the high of $28.32 in 363 minutes through 8 halts, and held most of the move into the close: it gave back 8% of it by 4:00 p.m.
| Time (ET) | What happened |
|---|---|
| 4:00 a.m. | First trade 20% above the previous close of $4.53 |
| 4:21 a.m. | Pre-market high, $12.87 |
| 9:30 a.m. | The open: $8.84, up 95.1% from the previous close |
| 3:33 p.m. | High of the day to the close, $28.32 |
| 3:46 p.m. | Last trade before the 4:00 p.m. close, $26.81, 5.3% below the high |
The shape's name comes from a fixed rule, not a judgement (how shapes are named). Halts are in the halt table below.
The day in numbers
- Previous close
- $4.53
- Open, 9:30 a.m.
- $8.84
- Gap at the open
- +95.1%
- Pre-market high
- $12.87 at 4:21 a.m.
- High, 4 a.m. to 4 p.m.
- $28.32 at 3:33 p.m.
- Low, 4 a.m. to 4 p.m.
- $7.81
- Close, 4 p.m.
- $26.81
- Change at 4 p.m.
- +491.8%
- After-hours high, 4 p.m. to 8 p.m.
- $32.82 at 4:12 p.m.
- Volume, 4 a.m. to 4 p.m.
- 23.78 million
- Volume after hours, 4 p.m. to 8 p.m.
- 2.10 million
- Relative volume by 8 p.m.
- 146.2×
- Float
- not available
- Shares outstanding
- not available
- Volume, from the one-minute bars: 6.28 million shares before the 9:30 a.m. open (24%), 3.57 million in the first 30 minutes (14%), and 16.03 million in the rest of the day to 8 p.m. (62%).
- Other days PFSA met the small-cap rule in our recaps: 5, the latest on October 22, 2026.
On the day's lists: the pre-market gappers, intraday runners. It is here because it met the small-cap rule on the pre-market gappers: price $2 to $20, up 10% or more, relative volume 5× or more, float under 20 million shares, its high reached $1 or more and it started the day at $20 or under (the rule every page uses).
Halts (10)
| Halted | Resumed | Length | The 5 minutes into it | Reopened at, against the last trade | The 5 minutes after | Reason in the feed |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 9:36 a.m. | 9:41 a.m. | 5 min 0 s | up 10.9% | $10.10, down 4.5% | up 14.4% | LULD pause (limit up-limit down) |
| 9:51 a.m. | 9:56 a.m. | 5 min 0 s | up 15.0% | $13.31, up 0.4% | up 19.7% | LULD pause (limit up-limit down) |
| 9:58 a.m. | 10:03 a.m. | 5 min 0 s | up 20.1% | $15.02, down 5.7% | down 10.0% | LULD pause (limit up-limit down) |
| 10:04 a.m. | 10:14 a.m. | 10 min 0 s | down 15.1% | $12.50, down 7.5% | up 2.6% | LULD pause (limit up-limit down) |
| 10:31 a.m. | 10:36 a.m. | 5 min 0 s | down 12.8% | $13.00, down 2.9% | up 0.6% | LULD pause (limit up-limit down) |
| 11:38 a.m. | 11:43 a.m. | 5 min 0 s | down 10.4% | $10.80, down 0.6% | down 0.5% | LULD pause (limit up-limit down) |
| 3:22 p.m. | 3:27 p.m. | 5 min 0 s | up 7.4% | $23.58, down 5.2% | up 10.0% | LULD pause (limit up-limit down) |
| 3:28 p.m. | 3:33 p.m. | 5 min 0 s | up 4.3% | $25.10, down 3.2% | down 5.1% | LULD pause (limit up-limit down) |
| 3:35 p.m. | 3:40 p.m. | 5 min 0 s | down 8.2% | $23.50, down 1.3% | up 5.7% | LULD pause (limit up-limit down) |
| 3:46 p.m. | 4:00 p.m. | 13 min 39 s | up 15.8% | $27.48, up 2.5% | down 7.8% | LULD pause (limit up-limit down) |
Halt bands that day: the LULD plan's Amendment 18 rules (what that means, LULD calculator).
How we read the data, name a day's shape and pick the stocks: methodology.
Trade this day
Replay PFSA on August 18, 2026 in Hindsight Markets: the real tape, the order book and the halts, on a clock you control, and see where your orders would have filled.