Recaps · August 17, 2026

YYAI, August 17: a 68% spike at 9:01 a.m. and a fade to $1.20

• Small cap
• Momentum
• Main move: pre-market
• Gap and fade
• Ask walls pulled
• Bid at $0.90
• Halted once

Volume

5.44 million shares

Previous close

$1.13

Open

$1.42 (up 25.7%)

High

$1.90 at 9:01 a.m.

Halts

1 (3:04 a.m.)

Close

$1.20

The day before

On August 14, YYAI opened at $1.16 and reached $1.29. The official close was $1.13. That is the number the next day is measured against.

The halt and the 9:00 reopen

At 3:04 a.m. on the 17th, trading was halted. The data gives no reason. It resumed at 9:00 a.m., half an hour before the open.

The first trades after the resume were at $1.23, already above the $1.13 close. That first minute was thin: 3,257 shares, between $1.13 and $1.31.

9:01: up to $1.90

In the next minute it ran to $1.90 at 9:01 a.m. That is 68% above the previous close. About 99,500 shares traded in that minute. The next minute it dipped to $1.45.

At 9:03 it pushed back up to $1.75, a lower high under the $1.90 top. It reached $1.74 at 9:08. The 9:08 minute was the busiest so far, with about 436,000 shares, followed by 9:03 and 9:02 with about 316,000 and 281,000.

Now the part a chart doesn't show. From 9:03 on, large blocks of stock were offered above the price, and they kept moving. At 9:03:15 a wall appeared at $1.85. It peaked at 33,472 shares at 9:03:18. At 9:09:08 another showed at $1.78, peaking at 24,902 shares. It was pulled at 9:12:32. A third, at $1.64, appeared at 9:12:33 and was pulled at 9:17:44. At 9:16:47 one showed at $1.69, peaking at 26,889 shares at 9:20:18.

At 9:07:53 one buy order of 11,530 shares went through three levels, $1.58 to $1.60. At 9:22:37 another buy of 10,688 shares went from $1.63 to $1.65. The 9:22 minute made a high of $1.69.

At 9:26:35 one sell order of 16,046 shares went through eight levels, from $1.44 to $1.37. The 9:26 minute hit $1.35. At 9:26:59 the $1.85 wall was pulled. It was not hit. After 9:01 the price never got closer to it than $1.75. By 9:29 it was back at $1.43.

The open

Before the bell, 3.98 million shares had traded.

It opened at $1.42. That is 25% under the $1.90 high, which came 29 minutes before the bell. The first minute closed at $1.30. At 9:31 it hit $1.20 on about 108,600 shares. At 9:34:45 one buy order of 10,650 shares went from $1.22 to $1.26, and the price stayed in that area. The low after the open was $1.14 at 9:40.

The bid at $0.90

From 9:36 to about 10:09 the stock held between $1.14 and $1.25, and volume dried up. In the book, from 9:36:33, someone was bidding for a lot of stock at exactly $0.90, about 30 cents under the price. It peaked at 26,086 shares at 10:10:41.

The 10:10 minute rose from $1.23 to $1.30, and the 10:11 minute reached $1.35. At 10:22:22 the bid was pulled: the size left the book without trading there. The price barely moved in that minute, $1.27 to $1.28, on about 2,900 shares.

The rest of the day

From 10:00 to noon the stock traded between $1.17 and $1.35. It dropped to $1.20 at 10:53 and to $1.17 at 11:02. At 11:18:53 one sell order of 11,100 shares went through four levels, $1.22 to $1.19. By midday it traded around $1.20 on thin volume, with several minutes in which nothing traded.

At 2:48 p.m. it jumped from $1.24 to $1.32 on about 13,600 shares. By 2:52 it was back at $1.18. Later it climbed to $1.28 by 3:45 p.m. and was $1.20 at 3:59 p.m. The 4:00 minute spiked to $1.32 and ended at $1.23.

After hours it reached $1.32 again at 5:53 p.m., and 209,375 shares changed hands in the after-hours session. The regular session, 9:30 to 4:00, saw 1.26 million shares. For the whole day, 5.44 million traded, about 2.8 times its normal volume. More than 70% of that came before the bell.

What to take from it

• After the top, the next push stopped lower. $1.90 at 9:01 a.m., then $1.75 at 9:03 a.m., and it never traded above $1.75 again.
• A big wall is not always hit. Sometimes it just leaves. The $1.85 ask wall was pulled at 9:26:59 without trading, and the price had stayed below it.
• The move was over before the open. Most of the day's volume traded pre-market, and by 9:30 the stock was already 48 cents under its high.