Recaps · August 19, 2026

BTCT, August 19: five halts, $1.32, and $2.14 after hours

• Small cap
• Momentum
• Main move: after hours
• Bid wall break
• Halt run
• Halted five times
• Faded into the close
• After-hours run

Float

11.79 million shares

Volume

48.31 million shares

Previous close

$0.4649

Open

$0.4800 (up 3.2%)

High

$1.32 at 3:09 p.m.

Halts

5 (2:58 p.m. and 3:03 p.m. and 3:16 p.m. and 3:21 p.m. and 3:33 p.m.)

Close

$0.8239

A quiet morning

BTCT's official previous close was $0.46. The day before, 98,116 shares traded. The data shows no news or filing for August 19.

The first trade was at 4:00 a.m., around $0.46. The pre-market high was $0.48 at 9:05 a.m. Just 1,295 shares traded before the bell.

It opened at $0.48, then slid to $0.47 at 9:40. From 10:07 to 11:16 it stayed between $0.48 and $0.49. It touched $0.50 at 11:26 and $0.51 at 11:31. Many minutes had no trades at all.

1 p.m.: two spikes and a drop

At 12:56 p.m. volume picked up (19,501 shares in the minute) and it went from $0.54 to $0.56. It touched $0.60 at 12:59 and $0.64 at 1:01. The 1:02 minute fell back to $0.56.

At 1:10 it dropped to $0.52, then ran to $0.69 at 1:14 on 205,495 shares in that one minute. By 1:37 it was back at $0.53.

From there it held between about $0.53 and $0.66 until 2:52.

2:53 to 3:08: the run, the halt, and the bid at $1.15

At 2:53 p.m. it began to run from $0.64. Volume went from about 20,000 shares a minute to 157,706, then over 300,000 a minute. It reached $0.91 at 2:57.

At 2:58:14 it was halted (a volatility pause). A bid of up to 133,754 shares at $0.91 peaked just before the halt and was pulled at 3:05:07. The stock reopened at 3:03:14 at $1.00, above that bid, with a 204,074-share print.

From 3:03:44 a bid built at exactly $1.15. It peaked at 296,028 shares at 3:03:57, 2.5% of the float. One second later, at 3:03:58, it was halted again. It reopened at 3:08:58 with a 280,524-share print at $1.17.

At the reopen, the bid wasn't pulled. Sellers hit it. In about a tenth of a second, 92,927 shares traded at exactly $1.15 and the wall was gone. One sell order swept 112,813 shares from $1.15 down to $1.07 across nine levels.

3:09: $1.32 and the turn

The 3:09 minute ran from $1.02 to $1.32, the regular-session high so far. At 3:09:08 a buy order took 53,520 shares from $1.29 to $1.32. Three seconds later a sell took 56,245 shares from $1.32 to $1.30. At 3:09:15 another sell went from $1.32 to $1.22 across 11 levels. The minute closed at $1.18.

An offer for 78,597 shares at $1.35 first showed at 3:04:03 and peaked at 3:05:49. The regular-session high of $1.32 stayed below it.

It came back once more. At 3:13 it pushed to $1.30, a lower high under $1.32. By 3:15 it was $1.10.

Three more halts

At 3:16:18 it was halted a third time, with the last bar at $1.05. It reopened at 3:21:18 lower, with a 169,505-share print at $0.95.

A bid of up to 313,309 shares built at $1.10 and peaked at 3:21:52. One second later, at 3:21:53, it was halted a fourth time. The bid was pulled at 3:23:29, while the stock was still halted. It reopened at 3:26:53 at $1.20, with an 88,072-share print.

By 3:28, more shares had traded than exist in the whole float (11.79 million). It faded to $0.95 by 3:32. At 3:33:03 it was halted a fifth time. It reopened at 3:38:03 around $1.00.

The bids at $0.85 and $0.90

A bid at $0.85 appeared at 3:38. A bigger bid at $0.90 started at 3:42 and peaked at 136,581 shares at 3:45.

Here's what happened. At 3:48:52, 103,435 shares traded at exactly $0.90 in about half a second, and the wall was gone. The 3:48 minute went down to $0.87.

It kept sliding: $0.78 at 3:55, then $0.82 at the close. By the close, 15.56 million shares had traded in the regular session: the float changed hands about 1.3 times. It was halted five times.

After hours: $2.14

The biggest run of the day came after the close. It went from $0.82 at the 3:59 p.m. close to $1.29 by 4:06, then past the regular-session high of $1.32 at 4:33. It reached $1.60 at 5:02 and hit $2.00 at 5:56.

The high of the day was $2.14 in the 6:24 p.m. minute, up 159% from $0.825 at 4:00 p.m. It closed the extended session near $1.78 at 7:59 p.m. After-hours volume was 32.7 million shares, more than double the regular session's.

What to take from it

• After the top, the next push stopped lower. $1.32 at 3:09 p.m., then $1.30 at 3:13 p.m.
• A halt can reopen higher or lower than it stopped. The 2:58 halt stopped at $0.91 and reopened at $1.00. The 3:16 halt stopped at $1.05 and reopened at $0.95.
• A big bid is not a floor. The $1.15 bid peaked at 296,028 shares and was eaten in a tenth of a second once sellers hit it. The $0.90 bid went the same way.