Recaps · September 24, 2026

PFSA, September 24: a 7:30 headline, $4.55 before the bell, and a fade to $3.02

• Small cap
• Momentum
• Main move: pre-market
• Catalyst: news
• Float traded 70x
• Gap, run and fade
• Lower high
• No halts

Float

515,010 shares

Volume

35.94 million shares

Previous close

$2.05

Open

$3.51 (up 71.2%)

High

$4.55 at 8:07 a.m.

Close

$3.02

Before the news

PFSA's official previous close was $2.05. The first trade of the 24th came at 4:02 a.m., at $2.09.

For the next three and a half hours almost nothing happened. From 4:02 to 7:29 a.m. it stayed between $1.94 and $2.15, in thin trading. The low so far, $1.94, came at 7:01 a.m. With a float of only 515,010 shares, a few thousand shares was already a lot.

7:30 a.m.: the headline and the float

At 7:30 a.m. GlobeNewsWire ran: “Profusa Announces Significant Progress Towards Lumee® Oxygen Platform CE Mark with ISO 13485 Certification Expected in Early October”.

The stock was at $2.00 when the minute began. It closed that minute at $3.07, with a high of $3.53. More shares traded in that one minute (580,322) than exist in the whole float. At 7:31 it hit $4.49, up 125% from $2.00, on 914,763 shares.

Then it came apart fast. It fell to $3.28 at 7:33, down 27% from $4.49. It pushed to $3.93 at 7:34, then dropped to $3.03 at 7:37.

The low of that first wave came at 7:40 at $2.75. From there it ran again, to $3.75 at 7:42. At 7:43:32 a 33,286-share sell swept from $3.56 to $3.47 across 10 levels. Then it reached $4.24 at 7:47. At 7:51:48 a 32,085-share buy swept from $3.90 to $3.98 across nine levels. At 7:52 it touched $4.39. Then it pulled back to $3.53 at 7:55.

8:07 a.m.: back toward the pre-market high

From $3.53 at 7:55 it climbed again: $4.24 at 8:02, $4.40 at 8:03, $4.44 at 8:04.

At 8:07:28 a 34,317-share buy swept through four price levels, from $4.50 to $4.53. In that minute PFSA printed $4.55, the high so far, at 8:07 a.m. That was 122% above the previous close. Within three minutes it was down to $4.00.

It tried again. At 8:22 a.m. it pushed to $4.34, a lower high under $4.55. After that it slid. It was at $3.38 by 8:38, $3.15 at 8:48, and $3.25 at 8:59. Before the bell, 21.24 million shares had traded.

The open

It opened at $3.51, up 71% from the $2.05 previous close and well below the pre-market high. A 39,499-share print at $3.51 came at 9:30:00.

Within the first four minutes it dipped to $3.21. At 9:33:00 a 29,831-share sell swept from $3.35 down to $3.21 across 15 levels.

At 9:34:46 a 30,815-share buy swept from $3.99 to $4.05. The minute traded 751,803 shares. The next minute, 9:35, hit $4.19, the regular-session high so far. That was still under the pre-market $4.55.

From there it faded. It was at $3.19 after a 9:53 sell sweep (31,530 shares and then 36,807 more). It was at $2.83 by 10:03.

10:35 a.m. and the $4.00 wall

A resting ask wall showed up at exactly $4.00 at 9:37.

It kept falling. At 10:36 the low was $2.55, and at 10:37 it hit $2.50 on a 43,318-share sell sweep from $2.56 to $2.50. After a quiet patch it printed the low after the open, $2.40, at 10:55.

Then it bounced in waves. At 11:46 it reached $3.25, and at 11:48:23 a 40,823-share sell swept from $2.93 to $2.73 across 21 levels. The $4.00 ask wall peaked at 124,219 shares at 12:24 p.m., about 24% of the float, while the stock traded under $3. Around 1:27–1:35 p.m. it pushed to $3.24.

At 2:02 p.m. Benzinga ran: “Micro Cap Profusa Navigates European Regulatory Hurdles to Advance Oxygen Monitoring Tech”. PFSA traded between $3.04 and $3.07 that minute.

The afternoon walls and the close

From 2:09 p.m. a string of large ask walls, each about 20% of the float, appeared and disappeared just above the price: $3.19 (pulled at 2:47 p.m.), $3.14 (pulled at 3:03 p.m.), $3.07 (pulled at 3:10 p.m.), $3.16 (pulled at 3:32 p.m.). The last was $3.07 again, seen from 3:33 p.m. It peaked at 109,115 shares at 3:43 p.m., about 21% of the float. At 3:45:37 p.m. it was pulled.

The stock was at $2.92 at 3:45 and near $3.00 for the last stretch. It closed at $3.02, 34% under the $4.55 high of the day. That high came before the bell, at 8:07 a.m., and was 30% above the $3.51 open.

By the 4:00 p.m. close, 14.13 million shares had traded in the regular session. Counting pre-market and after hours, 35.94 million shares changed hands in the whole day: about 70 times the float, at 120 times normal volume.

What to take from it

• The float turned over in a single minute. More shares traded in the 7:30 minute than the float holds, and by 7:40 a.m. volume was about ten times the float.
• After the top, the next push stopped lower. $4.55 at 8:07 a.m., then $4.34 at 8:22 a.m.
• The pre-market high and the open were far apart.