Recaps · August 25, 2026

DFNS, August 25: two halts and $25.00

• Small cap
• Momentum
• Main move: pre-market
• Gap and fade
• Lower high
• Halted twice
• Float traded 5x

Float

1.38 million shares

Volume

7.34 million shares

Previous close

$11.01

Open

$16.31 (up 48.1%)

High

$25.00 at 4:01 a.m.

Halts

2 (9:32 a.m. and 9:46 a.m.)

Close

$13.07

The day before

On August 24, DFNS opened at $20.62 and traded as high as $21.03. It also traded as low as $10.68. The official close was $11.01.

We have no news headline for August 25 in the data, so this recap sticks to the tape.

Pre-market: $25.00 at 4:01 a.m.

The 4:00 a.m. bar opened at $13.80, already above the $11.01 close. In that minute it traded as low as $12.70 and as high as $18.00.

At 4:01 a.m. it hit $25.00, the high so far. That is 127% above the previous close. It closed that minute at $23.48. By the 4:02 minute it had dropped to $18.00.

It bounced to $19.98 at 4:03 a.m., then fell to $13.50 at 4:08 a.m., down 32% from that bounce.

By 4:58 a.m., more shares had traded than exist in the whole float (1.38 million). 4.32 million shares traded before the bell.

A lower high, and the wall at $20.00

After 5 a.m. the stock settled mostly between $17 and $19. At 6:21 a.m. it reached $21.03, the same as the previous day's high.

At 6:22 a.m. it pushed to $24.86, a lower high under the $25.00 top. That minute carried 147,896 shares, the heaviest of the pre-market. By 7:00 a.m. it had slipped to $17.85.

At 7:47 a.m. a wall of shares appeared for sale at exactly $20.00. The stock was near $17 then. The wall grew to a peak of 25,821 shares at 9:20 a.m., about 2% of the float.

At 9:28:01 a.m. it was pulled. The size left the book without trading there. The stock was about $16.73 at the time. In the minutes before the bell it had pushed from $15.46 to $16.77.

The open and the first halt

It opened at $16.31, up 48% from the previous close. A 34,661-share print went through at $16.31 right at the open. The 9:30 minute dropped to $15.50 on 84,454 shares. Another ask wall, about 20,000 shares at $19.92, was on the book from 9:30:03.

The slide kept going. At 9:32 a.m. it was halted (a volatility pause) with the last trade at $14.24, 13% under the open.

It reopened at 9:37:15 at $14.29, with a 10,078-share print at that price. The 9:37 minute ran to $15.51, but the next few minutes were rough. By 9:40 it had traded as low as $13.55.

The second halt

At 9:44 a.m. it was back near $15.50, then dropped. The 9:45 minute traded 81,272 shares and ended at $13.22. At 9:46:20 a sell order of 10,101 shares went through 17 price levels, from $13.12 to $12.95, in a fraction of a second.

At 9:46:52 it was halted again (a volatility pause) with the last trade at $12.88.

It reopened at 9:51:52 at $12.58, 2% below where it stopped. An 18,365-share print went through at that price. The low after the open was $12.50, in the 9:51 minute. It closed that minute at $13.00 and was at $13.45 by 9:53.

The rest of the day

From 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. it stayed between $12.88 and $14.34, and volume thinned. In the 12:12 minute just 32 shares traded.

It woke up in the afternoon. From 1:19 p.m. it climbed to $14.96 at 1:31 p.m., the high of the afternoon. At 1:32:23 the $19.92 wall came off the book while the stock was under $15.

Then it slid. At 1:50:42 a sell order of 12,774 shares went through 37 price levels, from $14.10 to $13.56. At 3:25:01 another, 11,083 shares, went from $13.35 to $13.22.

The last regular-session minute, 3:59 p.m., ended at $13.07, 48% under the $25.00 high. That high came before the bell, 53% above the open.

After hours it dropped to $11.88 at 4:33 p.m., the low of the day, and drifted back to around $12.50. Regular-session volume was 2.84 million shares. Counting pre-market, 7.16 million shares had traded by the close: the float changed hands about 5 times.

What to take from it

• After the top, the next push stopped lower. $25.00 at 4:01 a.m., then $24.86 at 6:22 a.m.
• A halt reopen can be a thin, costly place to buy. At 9:37:16 the screen said $14.48, and a 5,000-share order averaged $15.24.
• A halt can reopen lower than it stopped. The 9:46 halt stopped at $12.88 and reopened at $12.58.
• Most of the move was gone by the close. It ended the regular session at $13.07, 48% below the $25.00 high.