Recaps · September 22, 2026

DCOY, September 22: a 7:30 headline, one halt, and $7.61

• Small cap
• Momentum
• Gap, run and fade
• Catalyst: news
• Round-number break
• Halted once
• Float traded 44x

Float

597,047 shares

Volume

46.67 million shares

Previous close

$2.54

Open

$5.16 (up 102.8%)

High

$7.61 at 9:41 a.m.

Halts

1 (12:51 p.m.)

Close

$3.09

Pre-market: the float traded by 7:33 a.m.

DCOY closed the day before at $2.55. At 7:30 a.m. PRNewsWire ran: “Decoy Therapeutics Exploring Pan-Filovirus Program via FDA Animal Rule Pathway and Non-Dilutive Funding”.

The first trades were around $2.56. By 7:33 a.m., more shares had traded than exist in the whole float (597,047). From $2.81 at 7:32 it ran to $5.28 at 7:34, up 88%.

Then it gave a lot back: $3.12 at 7:43, down 41% from the top. It ran again from $3.28 at 7:44 to $4.77 at 7:50, up 45%, then dropped to $3.77 at 7:51. By 7:54 the volume was ten times the float.

The pre-market high came later, $5.76 at 8:28 a.m. 18.75 million shares traded before the bell. Then it slid to $4.49 at 9:15, down 22% from the high.

The wall at $6.00

The open was $5.16, up 103% from the previous close. At 9:31 it traded above the $5.76 pre-market high.

From 8:21 a.m. on, there was an ask wall at exactly $6.00. The wall peaked at 72,024 shares at 9:23, about 12% of the float.

From 9:33:32, shares traded at exactly $6.00 again. In 2.5 seconds 27,576 shares traded at $6.00 and the wall was gone. Buyers ate it. At 9:33:34 one buy order swept 37,946 shares from $5.99 to $6.06 across 8 price levels. The 9:33 candle topped at $6.25, up 7% from its $5.83 open.

It pulled back to $5.51 at 9:35. Then it climbed. At 9:36:15 one buy order took 29,294 shares from $5.70 to $5.77. At 9:36:44 two more big buys went through, up to $6.62. By 9:37 it hit $7.08, up 28% from the $5.51 low.

At 9:41:16 a buy order swept 30,461 shares from $6.98 to $7.07. One second later another took 40,995 shares from $7.05 to $7.25 across 21 levels. It printed $7.61, the high so far, in the 9:41 minute. By 9:46 it was back at $6.34.

A lower high, then the slide

It tried once more. At 9:52 it pushed to $7.08, a lower high under $7.61. At 9:56 an ask wall appeared at $7.00. It peaked at 49,187 shares at 10:10.

The price chopped around $6 through the morning, then slid. It was $5.30 at 10:43 and $4.75 at 12:01. By 12:50 it was $4.28.

The 12:50 headline

At 12:50 p.m. PRNewsWire ran: “Decoy Therapeutics, Inc. Announces a Warrant Inducement Transaction for $3.85 Million in Gross Proceeds Priced At-The-Market under Nasdaq Rules”.

At 12:51:09 one sell order swept 108,488 shares from $4.25 down to $3.83 across 42 levels. The 12:51 minute went to $3.41. At 12:51:40 it was halted (a volatility pause) with the last trade at $3.41. At 12:51:26 an ask wall had shown up at $3.41. It peaked at 96,790 shares and was pulled at 12:54:28.

It reopened at 12:56:40 at $3.50, 3% above where it stopped. The first print was 99,158 shares at $3.50. The 12:56 minute went up to $3.88.

The close and after hours

It kept fading: $3.00 at 2:41 p.m., the low after the open, and $3.09 at the close.

By the close, 26.24 million shares had traded in the regular session: the float changed hands about 44 times. Another 18.75 million traded pre-market.

After hours it ran from $3.06 at 4:05 p.m. to $4.10 at 5:11 p.m., up 34%. At 6:14 p.m. PRNewsWire ran: “Decoy Therapeutics, Inc. Issues Correction to Warrant Inducement Transaction Press Release”.

What to take from it

• Here the big ask wall at $6.00 was a level, not a ceiling. The $6.00 wall was gone in 2.5 seconds, and the stock hit $7.08 by 9:37.
• Chasing right after a wall breaks, or after a halt reopens, costs more than the screen says. Here it cost $206 at the wall and $273 at the reopen on 5,000 shares.
• After the top, the next push stopped lower. $7.61 at 9:41 a.m., then $7.08 at 9:52 a.m. By the close it was at $3.09, 59% below the high.