Recaps · August 12, 2026

WCT, August 12: a quiet morning, then two halts

• Small cap
• Momentum
• Main move: late morning
• No news headline
• Halted twice
• Float traded about 6x
• Gave back most of the move

Float

1.97 million shares

Volume

11.34 million shares

Previous close

$0.8616

Open

$0.8556 (up 0.7%)

High

$1.84 at 11:46 a.m.

Halts

2 (11:31 a.m. and 11:50 a.m.)

Close

$1.03

A quiet start

The previous close was $0.86. Pre-market was almost empty: 111 shares traded before the bell, and the pre-market high was $0.85 at 7:50 a.m.

It opened at $0.86, about 1% under the close. The only trades between the open and 10:59 a.m. were 6 shares at 9:30 and 20 shares at $0.88 at 9:34. We have no news headline for the day.

10:59: the run starts

At 10:59 a.m. the stock woke up. It went from $0.88 to $1.15 at 11:09 a.m., up about 31% in ten minutes. Then it chopped between $0.97 and $1.16 for a quarter of an hour.

At 11:25 volume jumped to 130,488 shares in one minute. One print was 35,328 shares at $1.15, at the bid. The stock pushed to $1.25 at 11:26, and that same minute traded as low as $1.03. It was at $1.35 when the first halt came.

The first halt and the bid at $1.35

Just before the halt a large bid built at exactly $1.35. It was first seen at 11:31:20 and peaked at 128,035 shares at 11:31:33, about 6.5% of the 1.97-million-share float.

It reopened at 11:36:34 at $1.50, above where it stopped. The first print was 180,710 shares at $1.50.

The 11:36 minute went to $1.75. More than 647,000 shares traded in that one minute.

Here's what happened. At 11:37:05 a sell order swept eight price levels, $1.55 down to $1.48. The price fell to $1.35, down 23% from $1.75. At 11:37:15 shares traded at exactly $1.35: 10,268 in about a second. At 11:37:17 the wall was gone. The minute closed at $1.70. By the end of 11:38, more shares had traded than exist in the whole float.

After the reopen

The next eight minutes were wide and fast. It made $1.77 at 11:42, fell to $1.42 at 11:43, and at 11:44 a 30,067-share buy swept five levels from $1.54 to $1.58.

Here's what happened. At 11:46:04 a 12,000-share print went through at $1.66, and at 11:46:13 a buy order swept four levels, $1.74 to $1.77. The high of the day was $1.84, in the 11:46 minute, 114% above the previous close. Then at 11:46:39 a 23,585-share sell swept seven levels from $1.74 to $1.68. By 11:48 it traded as low as $1.62.

The second halt and the wall at $1.34

At 11:50:28 an ask wall showed up at $1.34. By 11:50:39 it was 287,290 shares, about 14.6% of the float. Three seconds later, at 11:50:42, it was halted again. The last trade was $1.34.

During the halt, a bid built at $1.21. It peaked at 106,259 shares at 11:55:20. The stock reopened at 11:55:42 at $1.26, below where it stopped. The first print was 154,883 shares at $1.26. The bid at $1.21 was pulled one second later.

The ask wall at $1.34 was pulled at 11:55:58. One second later, at 11:55:59, a 45,239-share buy swept ten levels, $1.30 to $1.39. The 11:55 minute high was $1.39. At 11:56 the high was $1.38. The 12:01 minute closed at $1.06.

The long fade

The slide kept going. Sell orders swept 17 levels at 12:13 ($0.9507 to $0.93) and 16 levels at 12:14 ($0.935 to $0.90). The 12:14 minute traded as low as $0.88, back near where the run began.

From 12:33 on, a bid sat at exactly $0.87. It peaked at 81,731 shares at 12:53, about 4.2% of the float. The stock stayed above it. At 2:53:26 p.m. the bid was pulled.

In between it bounced to $1.10 at 1:32 p.m. and just over $1.10 at 1:33 p.m., then spent most of the afternoon near $1.00.

The close

It closed at $1.03, 44% under the $1.84 high. That's still above the $0.86 previous close.

11.19 million shares traded by the close: the float changed hands about 6 times, at about 216 times its normal volume. Normal volume is small, about 52,000 shares a day. Another 151,813 traded after hours.

What to take from it

• A halt can reopen on either side. The first halt stopped at $1.35 and reopened at $1.50. The second stopped at $1.34 and reopened at $1.26.
• Buying right after these reopens cost more than the screen showed. In both fills the book was thin, and the 5,000-share order paid $48 and $86 over the screen.
• Big walls can vanish. The 287,290-share ask wall at $1.34 and the 128,035-share bid at $1.35 were both gone within minutes of the halts.