AIXI on August 25, 2026: why it ran

The day, step by step

• Small cap
• Momentum
• Main move: pre-market
• No headline in our data
• Pre-market spike
• Halted four times
• Float traded 148x

The day before

On August 24, AIXI ran from $0.48 to $0.82. It closed at $0.46, below where it opened. Volume that day was about 9 million shares.

Pre-market: the float traded by 4:04 a.m.

The first trades on the 25th were around $0.55, already above the $0.46 close. Our data has no news headline for the day.

By 4:04 a.m., more shares had traded than exist in the whole float (865,877). By 4:24 a.m. that was ten times the float.

Then it was slow. It crept from the $0.50s and $0.60s to $0.71 around 4:55 a.m. It touched $1.00 at 4:59, then mostly sat between about $0.78 and $0.96 for about an hour.

The real move came late. At 6:12 it was $1.18. Three minutes later, at 6:15 a.m., it hit $2.68, the high so far, up 486% from the previous close. That one minute traded about 4 million shares. It closed the minute at $2.09, and within seven minutes it was down to $1.57.

It fell to $1.46 at 6:27 a.m., 46% below the top. It pushed once more, to $1.82 at 6:42 a.m., a lower high under $2.68. After that it slid, touching $1.21 at 7:22.

A bid wall also sat at $1.25 from 7:23. It peaked at 196,457 shares at 8:59 (22.7% of the float) and was pulled at 9:06. By the bell, 93.29 million shares had traded.

The open and four halts

It opened at $1.46, up 219% from the previous close, and hit $1.61 in the first minute. At 9:30:58 a bid wall showed at $1.61. It peaked at 323,628 shares ten seconds later, about 37% of the float.

At 9:31:12 it was halted (a volatility pause) at $1.61. It reopened at 9:36:12 at $1.70. In the first seconds after the reopen it sold off from $1.66 to $1.62, and at 9:36:33 it was halted again. It reopened at 9:41:33 at $1.48.

It fell to $1.27 by 9:46. An ask wall appeared at $1.27 at 9:46:53 and peaked at 273,356 shares. At 9:47:07 it was halted a third time. The wall was pulled during the halt, at 9:49:40. It reopened at 9:52:07 at $1.27.

It ran to $1.43, and at 9:53:47 it was halted a fourth time. It reopened at 9:58:47 at $1.39. That was the last halt of the day.

The walls after the open

At 9:36:19, seconds after the first reopen, an ask wall showed at exactly $1.55. It peaked at 286,617 shares at 9:36:30, about 33% of the float. From the 9:41 reopen until 10:17, AIXI never traded above $1.53. It dipped to $1.23 at 10:14, then bounced and climbed again.

Here's what happened. At 10:18:33 the first trade printed at $1.55. In 2.9 seconds, 80,956 shares traded at exactly $1.55 and the wall was gone at 10:18:37. Buyers ate it.

It tagged $1.57 in that minute, but didn't hold it. At 10:22 a bid wall began to build at $1.48. It peaked at 257,123 shares at 10:23, about 30% of the float.

At 10:24:28 the first trade printed at $1.48. In 7.7 seconds, 249,265 shares traded at exactly $1.48 and the wall was gone. It wasn't pulled. Sellers hit it, including one 240,474-share sell that went from $1.48 to $1.44 across five levels. The minute low was $1.38.

It kept sliding: $1.27 at 10:46, then $1.12 at 11:04.

The rest of the day

It fell to $1.06 at 12:12 p.m., the low after the open, then chopped between about $1.10 and $1.35 for the afternoon. Volume dried up. Many minutes traded only a few thousand shares.

At 1:41 p.m. another bid wall appeared, at $1.19. It peaked at 522,283 shares at 1:49, 60% of the float. This one was pulled, not eaten. At 1:53 only 7,126 shares traded at $1.19 in under a second as it went, and the stock touched $1.15 in that minute.

It ended at $1.33 at the close, 50% below the $2.68 high.

Pre-market and regular session together came to 127.84 million shares: the float changed hands about 148 times, at 104 times its normal volume, and it was halted 4 times. Of that, 93.29 million came before the bell and 34.55 million in the regular session.

After hours it bounced to $1.51 at 4:02 p.m. and $1.59 at 4:35 p.m., then fell to $1.15 by 7:12 p.m., down 28% from the 4:35 high.

What to take from it

• After the top, the next push stopped lower. $2.68 at 6:15 a.m., then $1.82 at 6:42 a.m.
• A wall breaking is not the same as the move continuing. The $1.55 ask wall was eaten at 10:18 and the stock was back to $1.50 by 10:24. The $1.48 bid wall was eaten at 10:24 and it kept sliding.
• Halt reopens cost more than the screen says. At 9:52:08 a 5,000-share buy averaged $72 over the screen on a 559-share offer. When the book was thick at 10:18:38, the same order cost $0 extra.

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