Recaps · August 26, 2026

DAIC, August 26: the $5.90 bid, two halts, and $7.20 after hours

• Small cap
• Momentum
• Gap and fade
• Lower high
• Bid wall eaten
• Halted twice
• Float traded 26x

Float

853,881 shares

Volume

22.61 million shares

Previous close

$3.88

Open

$6.20 (up 59.8%)

High

$6.88 at 7:10 a.m.

Halts

2 (9:57 a.m. and 2:05 p.m.)

Close

$5.15

The day before

On August 25, DAIC ran from $3.50 to a high of $6.49. It faded from there and closed at $3.88.

After hours it was back up to $5.18. By the next morning it was trading well above the close.

Pre-market: the float traded by 4:11 a.m.

The first trades on the 26th were at $5.52, already above the $3.88 close. By 4:11 a.m., more shares had traded than exist in the whole float (853,881).

After that it mostly drifted between about $5.20 and $6.00. A sharp move came at 7:01 a.m. It reached $6.19, then dropped to $5.44 in the next minute.

The big move came at 7:10 a.m. In that one minute it went from $5.89 to $6.88, the pre-market high, up 77% from the previous close. 562,975 shares traded in that minute. By 7:12 it was back down to $6.28.

It tried once more. At 7:15 a.m. it pushed to $6.81, a lower high under the $6.88 top. 8.77 million shares traded before the bell, about ten times the float.

The open and the bid at $5.90

It opened at $6.20, up 60% from the previous close. The first minute ranged from $6.01 to $6.69 on 558,681 shares. By 9:31 it had dropped to $5.84.

From 9:36 a.m. on, a large bid sat at exactly $5.90. It peaked at 74,387 shares at 9:42 a.m., about 9% of the float. Above the price there was an ask wall at $6.50 too. It was first seen at 9:31.

Here's what happened. At 9:44:18 the first trade printed at $5.90. In 3.9 seconds, 22,703 shares traded at $5.90 and the bid was gone. Sellers hit it. A 25,135-share sell order went from $5.90 down to $5.81 across ten price levels at 9:44:21. The 9:44 minute closed at $5.84.

The halt at 9:57 and the wall at $5.31

It bounced to $6.29 by 9:51. Then it fell fast. At 9:56:59, a 67,890-share sell order swept from $5.86 to $5.65 across 22 levels. Another sell of 31,793 shares went from $5.51 to $5.35 at 9:57:32.

At 9:57:53 it was halted (a volatility pause) with the last trade at $5.31. An ask wall had appeared at $5.31 at 9:57:40. It peaked at 69,198 shares at 9:57:52, about 8% of the float. It reopened at 10:02:53 at $5.23.

At 10:03:10, 18,259 shares traded at $5.31 within a single second, and the wall was gone by 10:03:11. The 10:03 minute topped out at $5.35. It didn't hold. It sank to $4.77 in the 10:07 minute and hit $4.61 at 10:09.

A new ask wall showed up at $6.00 at 10:03:54. It peaked at 76,905 shares at 12:05 p.m.

Afternoon: the bid at $4.75

The rest of the morning was a slow chop between about $4.80 and $5.40. At 1:02 p.m. a big bid started to build at $4.75.

Here's what happened. The $4.75 bid peaked at 104,450 shares at 1:57 p.m., 12% of the float. At 1:58 p.m. the stock jumped from $4.86 to $5.25 in one minute. Buy orders swept $5.13 to $5.26 at 1:58:57 and $5.28 to $5.39 at 1:59:53. By 2:01 it was at $5.36.

Then it reversed. At 2:03:30 the $4.75 bid was hit, and by 2:03:31 it was pulled. 6,951 shares traded at $4.75, in 0.4 seconds. The 2:03 minute went from $5.30 down to $4.75 on 175,398 shares.

At 2:05:40 it was halted (a volatility pause) with the last trade at $4.59. It reopened at 2:10:40 at $4.36, 5% below where it stopped. The reopen print was 25,751 shares at $4.36. The low of the regular session was $4.26, in the 2:10 minute.

The close

From the 2:10 low it climbed back to around $5.00 by 2:53. It spent the last hour between $4.67 and $5.17, and closed at $5.15. That is 25% under the $6.88 pre-market high. That high came at 7:10 a.m. and was 11% above the open.

By the close, 10.02 million shares had traded, about 12 times the float. For the whole day including pre-market and after hours, 22.61 million shares traded: the float changed hands about 26 times, at about 4 times its normal volume.

After hours

After the bell it dipped to $4.94 at 4:05 p.m. Then it ran. In the 4:09 minute it reached $6.00, and at 4:15 p.m. it hit $7.20, the high of the whole day and 40% above the $5.15 close. That is higher than the $6.88 pre-market top.

The spike did not last. By 4:24 it was back at $5.87, and it traded around $6.00 for much of the evening. The last bar, at 7:59 p.m., closed at $5.58. 3.81 million shares traded after hours.

What to take from it

• After the pre-market top, the next push stopped lower. $6.88 at 7:10 a.m., then $6.81 at 7:15 a.m.
• A big bid is not a floor. The 74,387-share bid at $5.90 was eaten by sellers in under four seconds. The 104,450-share bid at $4.75 was pulled at 2:03 p.m. After the $5.90 bid broke, the stock dipped to $5.80 before bouncing; after the $4.75 bid was pulled, it fell to $4.26 by 2:10 p.m.
• Chasing a spike costs more than the screen says. At 7:10:30 a.m. a 5,000-share buy averaged $405 over the screen price. The book was thin in those seconds.