Recaps · August 19, 2026

CISS, August 19: a thin float, a volatility halt, and $4.90

• Small cap
• Momentum
• Main move: 9:35 to 10:07
• Tiny float
• Halt run
• Ask wall
• Bid wall pulled
• Faded from the high

Float

327,048 shares

Volume

2.96 million shares

Previous close

$2.74

Open

$2.79 (up 1.8%)

High

$4.90 at 10:02 a.m.

Halts

2 (3:04 a.m. and 9:52 a.m.)

Close

$3.21

Before the open

The official previous close was $2.74. The stock was halted at 3:04 a.m. and reopened at 9:00 a.m. at $2.86.

It ran to the pre-market high, $3.29 at 9:02 a.m. Then it fell to $2.57 at 9:16 a.m. In all, 77,677 shares traded before the bell, about a quarter of the 327,048-share float.

The open and the first push

It opened at $2.79. For the first five minutes it stayed between about $2.74 and $2.89.

At 9:35 it moved up through $3. At 9:39 it hit $3.33, above the $3.29 pre-market high. It slipped back to about $3 by 9:45, after dipping just under $2.97 at 9:43.

At 9:46 it turned up again. Volume built: 46,537 shares at 9:49, then 86,001 at 9:51, when it reached $4.13. By then more shares had traded than exist in the whole float.

The halt at 9:52

At 9:52 it was halted (a volatility pause). The last trade was $4.13.

Here's what happened. It reopened at 9:57:06 at $3.96, below where it stopped. A single trade of 34,603 shares at $3.96 printed at 9:57:06. The reopen minute went to $4.30, then fell. By 9:58 it had dropped to $3.20, and a sell sweep of 13,458 shares ran from $3.50 to $3.21 across 24 price levels at 9:58:52.

$4.90, then the walls

From $3.20 it climbed again. At 10:02 it hit $4.90, the high of the day. The 10:02 minute traded 183,189 shares.

Then the book changed. A sell sweep of 11,709 shares ran from $4.43 to $4.22 at 10:04:47. In the same second an ask wall appeared at $4.96. It grew to 28,436 shares at 10:07:38, about 8.7% of the float. A bid wall showed up at $3.29 at 10:04:52. It peaked at 22,473 shares and was pulled at 10:08:21.

At 10:07 it pushed to $4.44, a lower high under $4.90. The $4.96 wall was pulled at 10:08:15. Two seconds later a new ask wall formed at $4.71, peaking at 28,381 shares at 10:09:29.

The slide and the bids

After 10:07 the stock stepped down. The 10:13 minute closed at $3.54. Two sell sweeps went through the book: 15,988 shares from $3.75 to $3.57 at 10:13:53, and 10,396 shares from $3.56 to $3.50 at 10:14:04. By 10:18 it was at $3.09.

Bid walls kept showing up below. One sat at $3.01 from 10:11:35 and was pulled at 10:13:26. Another sat at $2.76 from 10:14:05 and was pulled at 10:20:17.

At 10:20:17 a new bid appeared at $2.72. It peaked at 22,188 shares at 10:39:33, about 6.8% of the float. It was pulled at 11:21:53. The stock was near $3 at that time. It later traded below $2.72, first at 11:57, and made the low of the day, $2.56, at 12:49.

The rest of the day

After 10:40 the stock mostly traded between $2.56 and $3.30, with small volume. The 3:59 p.m. bar closed just over $3.21, about 34% below the $4.90 high.

For the regular session, 2.76 million shares traded: the float changed hands about 8 times. Relative volume for the whole day was about 3.5 times normal.

After the close a 6-K was filed at 4:01 p.m. and a Schedule 13G at 4:15 p.m. Five 424B3 filings came between 4:54 and 5:05 p.m.

What to take from it

• A halt can reopen below where it stopped, and the book is thin at that moment. The stock stopped at $4.13, reopened at $3.96, and a 5,000-share buy averaged $722 over the screen.
• The next push after the top stopped lower. $4.90 at 10:02, then $4.44 at 10:07, with a big ask wall at $4.96 in between.
• Walls on the book can be pulled. The bid at $2.72 stayed for about an hour and then left.