Recaps · September 16, 2026

FTFT, September 16: a halt at $8.18, a top at $9.73, and a fade to $7.08

• Small cap
• Momentum
• Main move: the open
• No news in the data
• Pre-market high break
• Halted once
• Gap, run and fade

Float

7.91 million shares

Volume

5.59 million shares

Previous close

$5.74

Open

$7.01 (up 22.1%)

High

$9.73 at 9:45 a.m.

Halts

1 (9:32 a.m.)

Close

$7.08

Pre-market: up to $7.18

The day before, FTFT traded between $4.84 and $6.84 and closed at $5.74. No news came out in the data for the 16th.

The first trades on the 16th were at $6.08, already above the $5.74 close. The pre-market low was $5.83 at 4:05 a.m. It then ran to $6.69 by 4:11 a.m.

The pre-market high was $7.18 at 5:04 a.m. It spent the rest of the pre-market between about $6.11 and $7.18. 807,901 shares traded before the bell.

The open and the halt

It opened at $7.01, up 22% from the previous close. That is just under the $7.18 pre-market high.

In the first minute it cleared that high and traded up to $7.70. A 14,087-share buy swept five price levels, $7.48 to $7.52, at 9:30:38. Two minutes later it was at $8.18 and at 9:32:53 it was halted (a volatility pause).

It reopened at 9:37:53 at $8.26. The first trade was a single print of 83,445 shares at $8.26.

After the reopen

After the reopen it kept climbing: $8.88 by 9:40.

The 9:42 minute went to $9.48, with an 11,981-share buy sweeping five levels around $9.00. At 9:44 a 15,542-share buy ran through 19 price levels, $9.45 to $9.63. The high of the day, $9.73, came in the 9:45 minute, up 70% from the previous close.

The same minute also traded down to $8.70. By 9:57 the low was $7.93, 12 minutes after the high.

The drop to $7.00

For about 12 minutes from 9:58 it held roughly $7.95 to $8.19. Two big sell orders then went through the book. At 10:10:58 a 22,701-share sell ran from $7.96 to $7.81 across 15 levels. At 10:14:34 a 12,421-share sell ran from $7.83 to $7.68, also across 15 levels.

It kept sliding and hit $7.00 at 10:43 a.m., down 28% from $9.73. It bounced to $7.55 by 10:45.

A lower high, then the fade

At 11:18 it spiked to $7.97. Later it came back once more: at 11:39 a.m. it pushed to $8.44. An 11,578-share buy swept six levels, $8.25 to $8.30, in that minute. $8.44 was a lower high under the $9.73 top.

From there it faded: $7.47 at 11:49 a.m. and $6.60 at 1:55 p.m. The lowest price after the open was $6.43 at 3:27 p.m. A late bounce took it back to $7.08 in the last regular minute, 3:59 p.m.

By the close, 4.70 million shares had traded, about 60% of the 7.91 million-share float, at about 1.2 times normal volume. Another 84,670 traded after hours.

What to take from it

• After the top, the next push stopped lower. $9.73 at 9:45 a.m., then $8.44 at 11:39 a.m.
• The reopen fill cost more than the screen showed. The book was thin in the first second: 110 shares at the screen price, and a 5,000-share order averaged $8.48 and cost $265 more in total than the screen price.
• The best part of the move was the first 15 minutes. After the 9:45 high, the stock gave back most of the run by 10:43. It was at $7.08 at 3:59 p.m., 27% below $9.73.