Hindsight Markets Small-cap stocks on August 25, 2026
DAIC on August 25, 2026: why it ran
On August 25, 2026, DAIC opened up 111.0% from the previous close of 1.73 and reached 5.05 at 9:38 a.m. ET. The exchange halted it once.
- Previous close
- 1.73
- Open, 9:30 a.m.
- 3.65
- Gap at the open
- up 111.0%
- Pre-market high
- 4.27 at 8:45 a.m.
- High, 4 a.m. to 4 p.m.
- 5.05 at 9:38 a.m.
- Low, 4 a.m. to 4 p.m.
- 2.71
- After-hours high, 4 p.m. to 8 p.m.
- 6.49 at 5:16 p.m.
- Last trade before 4:00 p.m.
- 3.89
- Volume
- 60.47 million
- Relative volume
- 23.4x
- Float
- 853,881 shares, from filings as of August 25, 2026
- Shares outstanding
- 1.21 million
Replay DAIC's day
It starts at 9:18 a.m. ET with the real Level 2, time and sales and chart, from the same feed the replay plays, stops at 9:21 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
- Gap and run
- Day 2 after a spike
- Lower high
- Halted once
- Wall break
- Float traded 60x
The day before
On August 24, DAIC ran from $0.44 to $6.26. It gave most of it back and closed at $1.73.
After hours it was back up to $3.91. So the stock came into the 25th far above its official close.
Pre-market: the float traded by 4:12 a.m.
The first trades on the 25th were at $3.50, already above the $1.73 close. By 4:12 a.m., more shares had traded than exist in the whole float (853,881).
It ran to $3.66 at 4:36 a.m., then slid to $2.71 at 6:16 a.m., down 26%.
Then it ran twice. From $2.82 at 6:45 a.m. it went to $3.58 at 6:56 a.m., up 27%. From $3.22 at 6:59 a.m. it went to $4.00 at 7:00 a.m., up 24%. By 7:07 a.m. the volume was ten times the float.
The last push came from $3.48 at 8:42 a.m. to the pre-market high, $4.27 at 8:45 a.m. (up 23%). 21.02 million shares traded before the bell.
The open and the first run
It opened at $3.65, up 111% from the previous close. A 169,088-share print went through at $3.65 at 9:30:01.
At 9:31 a.m. it cleared the pre-market high of $4.27. From $3.53 at 9:30 a.m. it ran to $4.83 at 9:31 a.m., up 37%. The 9:31 minute alone traded 1.84 million shares. A single buy order swept 127,929 shares from $4.28 to $4.58 across 31 price levels.
It held between about $4.20 and $4.90 for the next few minutes.
Stop It's 9:37. DAIC is at $4.68, above the $4.27 pre-market high and up from the $3.65 open. $5.00 is close. Would you buy here?
Press play: the real Level 2, time and sales and chart stop at 9:37 a.m. ET for your call, then show what happened. The clip starts at 9:34 a.m. ET.
At 9:37:22 a buy order took 84,722 shares from $4.92 to $5.00 across 9 price levels. From $4.25 at 9:35 a.m. it ran to $5.05, the regular-session high so far, at 9:38 a.m. At 9:37:58 a sell order then hit 68,883 shares from $4.83 down to $4.73. Within four minutes the price was back at $4.06.
A lower high at $4.70, then the drop
It came back once more. At 10:16 a.m. it pushed to $4.70, a lower high under the $5.05 top. A buy order took 109,633 shares from $4.49 to $4.70 at 10:16:00.
That was the top of the move. At 10:16:43 a sell order took 94,319 shares from $4.22 down to $4.02. The 10:16 candle fell to $3.56 and closed at $3.83 on 972,016 shares. The next minute it reached $3.32.
The halt and the wall at $3.32
At 10:18 a.m. it was halted (a volatility pause) with the last trade at $3.32.
This is the part a chart doesn't show you. Stock was offered at exactly $3.32 almost as soon as the drop got there. The first wall showed up at 10:17:50 and peaked at 210,878 shares at 10:18:01, about a quarter of the float. It was pulled at 10:19:50. Eight seconds later a second wall appeared at $3.32 and peaked at 84,524 shares at 10:21:03, about 10% of the float.
Stop It's 10:23. DAIC was halted five minutes ago with the last trade at $3.32. About 84,000 shares were offered at $3.32 at the peak of the wall. The reopen is seconds away. Would you buy the reopen?
Press play: the real Level 2, time and sales and chart stop at 10:23 a.m. ET for your call, then show what happened. The clip starts at 10:20 a.m. ET.
It reopened at 10:23 a.m. at $3.15, 5% below where it stopped. A 117,181-share print went through at $3.15 right at 10:23:04.
At 10:23:11 trades began printing at $3.32. In under a second, 62,442 shares traded at exactly $3.32 and the wall was gone. It wasn't pulled. Buyers ate it.
The rest of the day
The bounce after the reopen didn't hold. It slid to $2.88 at 10:48 a.m. and $2.85 at 11:20 a.m., the low after the open. It then rose again, reaching $4.21 at 12:27 p.m., and closed the regular session at $3.89.
Through the close, pre-market and regular session together, 51.45 million shares traded: the float changed hands about 60 times, and relative volume for the day was about 23 times normal.
After hours
After hours it ran from $3.57 at 4:16 p.m. to $6.49 by 5:16 p.m., up 82%. That was higher than any price in the regular session.
What to take from it
- After the regular-session top, the next push stopped lower. $5.05 at 9:38 a.m., then $4.70 at 10:16 a.m. Right after that, the stock fell from $4.70 to $3.32 in two minutes.
- A halt can reopen lower than it stopped. The 10:18 a.m. halt stopped at $3.32 and reopened at $3.15.
- Right after the wall broke, a market buy cost more than the screen. At 10:23:13 the screen said $3.40, but 5,000 shares averaged $3.47.
Why it ran
News and SEC filings for DAIC published between the previous session's close and the first minute DAIC traded 20% above it, at 4:00 a.m. ET, newest first, from the same feeds the replay shows.
No news found before the move.
How it traded
Gap, run and fade. It gapped up 111.0% to 3.65 at the open, ran from the open to the high of 5.05 in 8 minutes, then gave back 83% of that move by 4:00 p.m., trading at 3.89.
| Time (ET) | What happened | Watch it |
|---|---|---|
| 4:00 a.m. | First trade 20% above the previous close of 1.73 | |
| 4:12 a.m. | Volume since 4:00 a.m. passes the whole float, 853,881 shares | |
| 8:45 a.m. | Pre-market high, 4.27 | |
| 9:30 a.m. | The open: 3.65, up 111.0% from the previous close | |
| 9:38 a.m. | High of the day to the close, 5.05 | |
| 10:18 a.m. | Halted: LULD pause (limit up-limit down). Trading resumes at 10:23 a.m. | |
| 3:59 p.m. | Last trade before the 4:00 p.m. close, 3.89, 23.0% 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: 21.02 million shares before the 9:30 a.m. open (35%), 10.68 million in the first 30 minutes (18%), and 28.77 million in the rest of the day to 8 p.m. (48%).
- Float rotation, the volume since 4 a.m. against the float of 853,881 shares: past it once at 4:12 a.m., twice at 4:41 a.m., three times at 5:41 a.m.
- The halt at 10:18 a.m.: down 21.3% in the 5 minutes into it, reopened at 3.15, down 5.1% from the last trade before it, then up 16.2% over the next 5 minutes.
- Other days DAIC met the small-cap rule in our recaps: 5, the latest on September 17, 2026.
- The next session, August 26, 2026, it gapped up 59.5% at 9:30 a.m.
Halts
| Halted | Resumed | Length | Reason in the feed |
|---|---|---|---|
| 10:18 a.m. | 10:23 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 DAIC on August 25, 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.