Recaps · September 24, 2026

HCWB, September 24: an 8:25 a.m. headline and two halts

• Small cap
• Momentum
• Main move: the morning
• Catalyst: news
• Halted twice
• Halt reopen
• Lower high
• Float traded 2.8x

Float

1.65 million shares

Volume

4.71 million shares

Previous close

$1.66

Open

$1.69 (up 1.8%)

High

$3.12 at 10:29 a.m.

Halts

2 (10:04 a.m. and 10:29 a.m.)

Close

$1.98

Pre-market: $1.79, then a headline

The previous close was $1.66. The pre-market high was $1.79, first reached at 5:20 a.m. 32,787 shares traded before the bell, and 19,457 of those came in the 8:25 and 8:26 minutes.

At 8:25 a.m. GlobeNewsWire ran: “HCW Biologics Announces Pricing of $1.5 Million Private Placement”. The stock was trading around $1.70 and fell to $1.60 in that minute. At 8:26 a.m. it hit $1.40, down 22% from $1.79. At 8:30 a.m. the company filed an 8-K (a current report). By 8:51 it was back at $1.74.

The open and the bid at $1.70

It opened at $1.69, up 2% from the previous close. The low since the open was $1.67 at 9:34. For the first 15 minutes it barely moved.

Here is what a chart doesn't show. From 9:44 a.m. someone was bidding for stock at exactly $1.70. It peaked at 63,799 shares at 9:52 (3.9% of the 1.65-million-share float).

At 9:52 the stock cleared the pre-market high of $1.79 and reached $1.81. Over the next few minutes it traded between $1.75 and $1.82.

The run toward $2.00

At 10:01 it moved to $1.89 on 23,184 shares. In the 10:02 minute it reached $1.96.

Here's what happened. In the 10:03 minute it ran from $1.97 to $2.38 on 45,156 shares, trading through $2.00 for the first time. At 10:04:05 it was halted (a volatility pause) with the last trade at $2.38.

Something showed up on the book during the pause. From 10:12 a.m. someone was bidding at $2.46, above the last trade. It peaked at 37,882 shares at 10:18 (2.3% of the float).

The reopen came at 10:29:01 at $3.12, 31% above where it stopped. A 105,200-share print went through at $3.12. In the same second a 26,901-share buy order swept from $2.50 to $3.12 across 10 price levels.

The top and the second halt

$3.12 was the high so far, in that same 10:29 minute. Two seconds after the reopen, a 30,505-share sell order swept down from $3.07 to $2.65 across 36 levels. The 10:29 minute traded 410,089 shares and closed at $2.50.

At 10:29:38 it was halted again (a volatility pause), with the last trade at $2.50. The $2.46 bid was pulled at 10:30:31, during the halt. The stock reopened at 10:34:38 at $2.45, with a 41,824-share print at that price.

After the 10:34 reopen it fell to $2.22 that minute. At 10:35 it hit $1.87, down 40% from $3.12. Then it chopped between about $1.83 and $2.30 for the next half hour.

The wall at $2.25

From 10:39 a.m. there was a wall of ask orders at $2.25. It peaked at 34,781 shares at 10:39:58 (2.1% of the float). At 11:10 the stock was still below it, at $2.13.

At 11:11:37 the wall was pulled. Twelve seconds later a 12,407-share buy swept from $2.30 to $2.35. The 11:11 minute went from $2.12 to a high of $2.60 and the 11:12 minute reached $2.69. By 11:12 more shares had traded than exist in the whole float (1.65 million).

It came back once more. At 11:17 it pushed to $2.84, a lower high under the $3.12 top. That minute traded 324,490 shares. It was at $2.36 by the close of the next minute and $2.18 by 11:20.

Around the same time more size appeared on the book. An ask wall at $3.00 first showed at 11:17:47 and peaked at 56,930 shares at 11:25 (3.4% of the float). Another at $2.77 peaked at 31,953 shares at 11:26.

The bid at $2.02

From 11:18 a.m. someone was bidding for a lot of stock at exactly $2.02. It peaked at 34,128 shares at 11:25 (2.1% of the float).

At 11:38:55 it was pulled. The stock had been trading near $2.05. In the next two minutes it touched $2.00.

The rest of the day

At 12:11 a 16,070-share sell swept from $1.85 to $1.80, and it hit $1.78 at 12:12 p.m. After that it was quiet. From about 12:20 it drifted between about $1.90 and $2.04 for the rest of the afternoon and was at $1.98 in the last regular-session minute, 3:59 p.m.

By the close, 4.60 million shares had traded: the float changed hands about 2.8 times, at about 30 times its normal volume. After hours another 78,384 shares traded, between $1.85 and $2.00.

What to take from it

• A halt can reopen higher than it stopped, and the reopen can be the top. The first halt stopped at $2.38 and reopened at $3.12. That was the high of the day.
• At the reopen, the screen price wasn't the fill price. At the $3.12 reopen only 27 shares were offered at the screen price, and the high came within seconds.
• After the top, the next push stopped lower. $3.12 at 10:29 a.m., then $2.84 at 11:17 a.m. By 3:59 p.m. the stock was at $1.98.