Hindsight Markets Small-cap stocks on August 12, 2026
WCT on August 12, 2026: why it ran
On August 12, 2026, WCT opened down 0.7% from the previous close of 0.8616 and reached 1.84 at 11:46 a.m. ET. The exchange halted it 2 times.
- Previous close
- 0.8616
- Open, 9:30 a.m.
- 0.8556
- Gap at the open
- down 0.7%
- Pre-market high
- 0.8537 at 7:50 a.m.
- High, 4 a.m. to 4 p.m.
- 1.84 at 11:46 a.m.
- Low, 4 a.m. to 4 p.m.
- 0.8501
- After-hours high, 4 p.m. to 8 p.m.
- 1.08 at 4:00 p.m.
- Last trade before 4:00 p.m.
- 1.03
- Volume
- 11.34 million
- Relative volume
- 216.0x
- Float
- 1.97 million shares, from filings as of August 12, 2026
- Shares outstanding
- 3.07 million
Replay WCT's day
It starts at 11:19 a.m. ET with the real Level 2, time and sales and chart, from the same feed the replay plays, stops at 11:22 a.m. and asks what you would do. Or press Play on any moment in How it traded.
The day, step by step
- Small cap
- Momentum
- Main move: late morning
- No news headline
- Halted twice
- Float traded about 6x
- Gave back most of the move
A quiet start
The previous close was $0.86. Pre-market was almost empty: 111 shares traded before the bell, and the pre-market high was $0.85 at 7:50 a.m.
It opened at $0.86, about 1% under the close. The only trades between the open and 10:59 a.m. were 6 shares at 9:30 and 20 shares at $0.88 at 9:34. We have no news headline for the day.
10:59: the run starts
At 10:59 a.m. the stock woke up. It went from $0.88 to $1.15 at 11:09 a.m., up about 31% in ten minutes. Then it chopped between $0.97 and $1.16 for a quarter of an hour.
At 11:25 volume jumped to 130,488 shares in one minute. One print was 35,328 shares at $1.15, at the bid. The stock pushed to $1.25 at 11:26, and that same minute traded as low as $1.03. It was at $1.35 when the first halt came.
The first halt and the bid at $1.35
Just before the halt a large bid built at exactly $1.35. It was first seen at 11:31:20 and peaked at 128,035 shares at 11:31:33, about 6.5% of the 1.97-million-share float.
It reopened at 11:36:34 at $1.50, above where it stopped. The first print was 180,710 shares at $1.50.
The 11:36 minute went to $1.75. More than 647,000 shares traded in that one minute.
Stop It's 11:37. WCT is at $1.64. It reopened a minute ago at $1.50 and has already touched $1.75. A big bid has sat at $1.35 since before the halt. Would you buy here?
Press play: the real Level 2, time and sales and chart stop at 11:37 a.m. ET for your call, then show what happened. The clip starts at 11:34 a.m. ET.
Here's what happened. At 11:37:05 a sell order swept eight price levels, $1.55 down to $1.48. The price fell to $1.35, down 23% from $1.75. At 11:37:15 shares traded at exactly $1.35: 10,268 in about a second. At 11:37:17 the wall was gone. The minute closed at $1.70. By the end of 11:38, more shares had traded than exist in the whole float.
After the reopen
The next eight minutes were wide and fast. It made $1.77 at 11:42, fell to $1.42 at 11:43, and at 11:44 a 30,067-share buy swept five levels from $1.54 to $1.58.
Stop It's 11:46. WCT is at $1.59. Four minutes ago it touched $1.77 and it has since pulled back. Would you buy here?
Press play: the real Level 2, time and sales and chart stop at 11:46 a.m. ET for your call, then show what happened. The clip starts at 11:43 a.m. ET.
Here's what happened. At 11:46:04 a 12,000-share print went through at $1.66, and at 11:46:13 a buy order swept four levels, $1.74 to $1.77. The high of the day was $1.84, in the 11:46 minute, 114% above the previous close. Then at 11:46:39 a 23,585-share sell swept seven levels from $1.74 to $1.68. By 11:48 it traded as low as $1.62.
The second halt and the wall at $1.34
At 11:50:28 an ask wall showed up at $1.34. By 11:50:39 it was 287,290 shares, about 14.6% of the float. Three seconds later, at 11:50:42, it was halted again. The last trade was $1.34.
During the halt, a bid built at $1.21. It peaked at 106,259 shares at 11:55:20. The stock reopened at 11:55:42 at $1.26, below where it stopped. The first print was 154,883 shares at $1.26. The bid at $1.21 was pulled one second later.
The ask wall at $1.34 was pulled at 11:55:58. One second later, at 11:55:59, a 45,239-share buy swept ten levels, $1.30 to $1.39. The 11:55 minute high was $1.39. At 11:56 the high was $1.38. The 12:01 minute closed at $1.06.
The long fade
The slide kept going. Sell orders swept 17 levels at 12:13 ($0.9507 to $0.93) and 16 levels at 12:14 ($0.935 to $0.90). The 12:14 minute traded as low as $0.88, back near where the run began.
From 12:33 on, a bid sat at exactly $0.87. It peaked at 81,731 shares at 12:53, about 4.2% of the float. The stock stayed above it. At 2:53:26 p.m. the bid was pulled.
In between it bounced to $1.10 at 1:32 p.m. and just over $1.10 at 1:33 p.m., then spent most of the afternoon near $1.00.
The close
It closed at $1.03, 44% under the $1.84 high. That's still above the $0.86 previous close.
11.19 million shares traded by the close: the float changed hands about 6 times, at about 216 times its normal volume. Normal volume is small, about 52,000 shares a day. Another 151,813 traded after hours.
What to take from it
- A halt can reopen on either side. The first halt stopped at $1.35 and reopened at $1.50. The second stopped at $1.34 and reopened at $1.26.
- Buying right after these reopens cost more than the screen showed. In both fills the book was thin, and the 5,000-share order paid $48 and $86 over the screen.
- Big walls can vanish. The 287,290-share ask wall at $1.34 and the 128,035-share bid at $1.35 were both gone within minutes of the halts.
Why it ran
News and SEC filings for WCT published between the previous session's close and the first minute WCT traded 20% above it, at 11:09 a.m. ET, newest first, from the same feeds the replay shows.
No news found before the move.
How it traded
Intraday run. It opened down 0.7% at 0.8556, then ran from the open to the high of 1.84 in 136 minutes through a halt.
| Time (ET) | What happened | Watch it |
|---|---|---|
| 7:50 a.m. | Pre-market high, 0.8537 | |
| 9:30 a.m. | The open: 0.8556, down 0.7% from the previous close | |
| 11:09 a.m. | First trade 20% above the previous close of 0.8616 | |
| 11:31 a.m. | Halted: LULD pause (limit up-limit down). Trading resumes at 11:36 a.m. | |
| 11:38 a.m. | Volume since 4:00 a.m. passes the whole float, 1.97 million shares | |
| 11:46 a.m. | High of the day to the close, 1.84 | |
| 11:50 a.m. | Halted: LULD pause (limit up-limit down). Trading resumes at 11:55 a.m. | |
| 3:59 p.m. | Last trade before the 4:00 p.m. close, 1.03, 44.0% below the high |
The shape is a fixed rule, not a judgement: gapped 10% or more at the open, ran 10% or more from the open to the high, and faded if it gave back 30% or more of that move by the close.
The day in numbers
- Volume, from the one-minute bars: 111 shares before the 9:30 a.m. open (0%), 26 in the first 30 minutes (0%), and 11.34 million in the rest of the day to 8 p.m. (100%).
- Float rotation, the volume since 4 a.m. against the float of 1.97 million shares: past it once at 11:38 a.m., twice at 11:42 a.m., three times at 11:48 a.m.
- The halt at 11:31 a.m.: up 19.5% in the 5 minutes into it, reopened at 1.50, up 11.1% from the last trade before it, then up 6.0% over the next 5 minutes.
- The halt at 11:50 a.m.: down 15.7% in the 5 minutes into it, reopened at 1.26, down 6.0% from the last trade before it, then down 10.3% over the next 5 minutes.
- Other days WCT met the small-cap rule in our recaps: 2, the latest on September 15, 2026.
Halts
| Halted | Resumed | Length | Reason in the feed |
|---|---|---|---|
| 11:31 a.m. | 11:36 a.m. | 5 min 0 s | LULD pause (limit up-limit down) |
| 11:50 a.m. | 11:55 a.m. | 5 min 0 s | LULD pause (limit up-limit down) |
On this date the LULD plan ran under Amendment 18, in force from February 24, 2020: no band doubling at the open, and the closing doubling only for Tier 1 stocks and Tier 2 stocks whose previous close was at or below three dollars. See LULD halts or work out a band with the LULD calculator.
Trade this day
Replay WCT on August 12, 2026 in Hindsight Markets: the real tape, the order book and the halts, on a clock you control, and see where your orders would have filled.