Recaps · August 12, 2026

OFAL, August 12: the $3.50 bid, 22 halts, and $3.80

• Small cap
• Momentum
• Main move: pre-market
• Gap, run and fade
• Large bid wall
• Halt run
• Halted 22 times
• Float traded 46x

Float

1.92 million shares

Volume

90.49 million shares

Previous close

$0.7132

Open

$2.55 (up 257.5%)

High

$3.80 at 9:56 a.m.

Halts

22 (9:30 a.m. and 9:36 a.m. and 9:46 a.m. and 9:56 a.m. and 10:11 a.m. and 10:22 a.m. and 10:27 a.m. and 10:37 a.m. and 10:48 a.m. and 10:53 a.m. and 11:04 a.m. and 11:11 a.m. and 11:17 a.m. and 11:23 a.m. and 11:30 a.m. and 11:38 a.m. and 11:48 a.m. and 11:56 a.m. and 12:03 p.m. and 12:08 p.m. and 12:14 p.m. and 12:20 p.m.)

Close

$1.35

Pre-market: the float traded by 6:12 a.m.

OFAL closed the day before at $0.71. The first trades on the 12th were at $0.79, already above that close. Our data has no news headline for the day.

By 6:12 a.m., more shares had traded than exist in the whole float (1.92 million). By 6:53 a.m. that was ten times the float. At 6:53 it traded through $2.00 for the first time, after trading under $1 until about 6:07.

From under $0.90 at 6:13 it ran to $2.57 at 6:56 a.m. At 7:00 it pushed to $2.76, and at 7:02 to $2.90. Then it fell to $1.72 at 7:22 a.m., down 41% from $2.90.

It bounced to $2.20 at 7:25 and fell again to $1.67 at 7:51 a.m. Then it ranged around $2 for most of the next hour.

At 8:40 it woke up. The 8:41 minute reached the pre-market high, $3.50. A single buy order at 8:41:01 took 115,674 shares through 28 price levels, from $2.98 to $3.25. The next minute it was back at $2.69, down 23% from $3.50.

At 8:49 it ran to $3.33, and another buy order took 93,388 shares from $2.98 to $3.05 across 8 levels. A sell order at 8:50:11 sent 69,495 shares from $2.84 to $2.77. 72.21 million shares traded before the bell.

The open at $2.55

The open was $2.55, up 258% from the previous close. The 9:30 minute ranged from $2.45 to $2.70. At 9:30:34 it was halted (a volatility pause). It reopened at 9:35:34 with a 176,736-share print at $2.85.

A buy order at 9:35:47 took 71,262 shares from $2.94 to $3.00. A bid wall formed at $3.00, peaking at 318,647 shares (16.6% of the float) at 9:36:02. The stock was halted again at 9:36:02 with the last trade at $3.00.

The bid at $3.50

The 9:36 halt ended at 9:46:03. The first print was 345,159 shares at $3.35. Before it, from 9:43:39, someone had been bidding for a lot of stock at exactly $3.50. That bid peaked at 519,846 shares at 9:46:18, about 27% of the float.

One buy order at 9:46:03 took 125,755 shares through 31 price levels, from $3.20 to $3.50.

It reopened at 9:56:18 at $3.70, 6% above where it stopped. A 382,599-share print went through at that price. The 9:56 minute reached $3.80, the high of the day. By 9:56:33 it was halted again, with the last trade at $3.55.

An ask wall appeared at $3.55 at 9:56:19. It peaked at 310,311 shares (16.2% of the float) at 9:56:33. At 9:57:55 the $3.50 bid was pulled while the stock was halted: the size left the book without trading there. The $3.00 bid was pulled at 9:59:39.

The halt ended at 10:11:34, and the stock reopened at $3.00, 15% below where it stopped. A 291,720-share print went through at that price. Within 15 minutes of the high it was at $2.85.

Halt after halt on the way down

A new ask wall showed up right after the 10:11 reopen: 379,260 shares at $2.85 at 10:11:48 (19.7% of the float). It was pulled at 10:20:10.

Between 10:11 and 10:53 the stock was halted 6 times. Most reopenings were lower: $2.69 at 10:21, $2.57 at 10:27, $2.23 at 10:37, $2.11 at 10:47, and $2.15 at 10:53. Two more ask walls of about 299,000 shares each appeared at the reopens: at $2.42 (from 10:27) and at $2.08 (from 10:37). A sell order at 10:21:49 pushed 64,894 shares from $2.83 to $2.54 across 19 levels.

The 11:03 reopen was at $1.80, and the stock hit $1.72 at 11:03 a.m., down 55% from $3.80. It was halted again at 11:04, then 5 more times between 11:11 and 11:38. Most of those reopenings were lower too, from $2.21 down to $1.66 at 11:43.

The rest of the day

The halts turned the other way for a while. Between 11:48 and 12:03 it was halted 3 times on the way up, each reopening higher, from $1.90 to $2.28 at 12:08.

That $2.28 at 12:08 p.m. was a lower high under the $3.80 top. It was halted again at 12:08, 12:14 and 12:20. The last halt ended at 12:25:07, the 22nd of the day.

From there it faded: $1.34 at 3:17 p.m., and $1.35 at the close, 64% below the high.

Through the close, 87.61 million shares traded (72.21 million pre-market and 15.40 million in the regular session). The float changed hands about 46 times, at 245 times its normal volume.

After hours it ran from $1.05 at 4:12 p.m. to $1.75 by 5:05 p.m., up 67%.

What to take from it

• A huge bid at a round number can disappear without trading. The $3.50 bid peaked at 519,846 shares. It was pulled at 9:57:55 while the stock was halted.
• A halt can reopen lower than it stopped. The 9:56 halt stopped at $3.55 and reopened at $3.00. Reopen fills ranged from $0 to $220 over the screen for 5,000 shares.
• After the top, the next push stopped lower. $3.80 at 9:56 a.m., then $2.28 at 12:08 p.m. The stock closed at $1.35, 64% below the high.