Hindsight Markets Small-cap stocks on August 26, 2026
XPON on August 26, 2026: why it ran
On August 26, 2026, XPON opened up 21.4% from the previous close of 5.27 and reached 11.76 at 10:15 a.m. ET. The exchange halted it 3 times.
- Previous close
- 5.27
- Open, 9:30 a.m.
- 6.40
- Gap at the open
- up 21.4%
- Pre-market high
- 7.21 at 4:08 a.m.
- High, 4 a.m. to 4 p.m.
- 11.76 at 10:15 a.m.
- Low, 4 a.m. to 4 p.m.
- 5.73
- After-hours high, 4 p.m. to 8 p.m.
- 9.25 at 4:56 p.m.
- Last trade before 4:00 p.m.
- 9.10
- Volume
- 13.86 million
- Relative volume
- 5.6x
- Float
- 962,335 shares, from filings as of August 26, 2026
- Shares outstanding
- 962,335
Replay XPON's day
It starts at 9:38 a.m. ET with the real Level 2, time and sales and chart, from the same feed the replay plays, stops at 9:41 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: the morning
- Round-number break
- Halt run
- Halted three times
- Lower high after the top
- Float traded 13x
The day before
On August 25, XPON opened at $4.94 and ran to $8.62. It closed at $5.27.
After hours it was back up to $6.66. So the next morning it started well above the close.
Pre-market: up to $7.21
The first trades on the 26th were at $6.10, already above the $5.27 close.
From $6.26 at 4:01 a.m. it ran to the pre-market high, $7.21 at 4:08 a.m. 903,903 shares traded before the bell. That is just under the float of 962,335.
The open and the first halt
It opened at $6.40, up 21% from the previous close. The low since the open was $6.31 at 9:31.
By 9:37 a.m., more shares had traded than exist in the whole float (962,335). At 9:44 it cleared the pre-market high of $7.21.
The volume built fast from there. The 9:45 minute traded 154,864 shares. At 9:50 a.m. it was halted (a volatility pause) with the last trade at $8.66. It reopened at 9:55:29 at $8.67, with a single 43,998-share trade at that price.
The wall at $10.00
This is the part a chart doesn't show you.
From 9:50 a.m. on, someone was offering a lot of stock at exactly $10.00. It peaked at 27,400 shares at 9:51, about 3% of the float, and it was still there as the stock came up toward it.
Stop It's 9:56. XPON is at $9.22, up from $8.67 at the reopen a minute ago. A big ask wall has sat at $10.00 since 9:50. Would you buy here?
Press play: the real Level 2, time and sales and chart stop at 9:56 a.m. ET for your call, then show what happened. The clip starts at 9:53 a.m. ET.
Here's what happened. At 9:56:38 shares began trading at $10.00. In under a second, 16,706 shares traded at exactly $10.00 and the wall was gone. It wasn't pulled. Buyers ate it. One buy order of 27,326 shares went through 21 price levels, from $9.88 to $10.13. The high of that minute was $10.13, up 58% from the $6.40 open.
It tagged $10.18 at 9:59. Then it dropped, and the 10:04 minute hit $8.66, giving back the whole move from the 9:55 reopen. During that drop a bid wall appeared at $8.50 at 10:01. It peaked at 32,049 shares at 10:06 and was pulled at 10:18.
The second halt
It climbed again, and at 10:08 a.m. it was halted (a volatility pause) with the last trade at $10.33. It reopened at 10:13:43 at $10.56, 2% above where it stopped. The reopen print was 89,736 shares.
Stop It's 10:14. XPON is at $11.07. It reopened from its halt a minute ago at $10.56. Would you chase it here?
Press play: the real Level 2, time and sales and chart stop at 10:14 a.m. ET for your call, then show what happened. The clip starts at 10:11 a.m. ET.
The 10:14 minute went to $11.69. The next minute hit $11.76, the high of the day, at 10:15, up 123% from the previous close. By 10:17 it was back at $9.94.
At 10:17:14 a sell order of 22,623 shares went through 44 levels, from $10.50 down to $10.06. At 10:17 a.m. it was halted again with the last trade at $9.94. This halt lasted ten minutes. It reopened at 10:27:47 at $9.70, 2% below where it stopped.
The rest of the day
It came back once more. At 10:29 a.m. it pushed to $10.56, a lower high under the $11.76 top. From 10:31 it slid again. A 19,179-share sell order went from $10.00 to $9.80 that minute.
A new ask wall showed up at $11.00 at 10:49. It peaked at 30,550 shares at 11:43. The stock did not trade above $10.45 after 10:49.
It kept fading: $8.71 at 11:07 a.m. and $8.33 at 11:21 a.m. From noon on it stayed between $7.69 (1:05 p.m.) and $9.40 (3:57 p.m.), and it ran up late to $9.10 at the close.
By the close, 12.49 million shares had traded: the float changed hands about 13 times. Counting pre-market, it had already traded ten times the float by 11:06 a.m.
What to take from it
- After the top, the next push stopped lower. $11.76 at 10:15 a.m., then $10.56 at 10:29 a.m.
- A market buy after a halt reopen or near the top could cost more than the screen showed. Here a 5,000-share buy ran $309 to $643 over the screen at the 9:55 and 10:27 reopens and at the 10:15 high; at the 10:13 reopen it cost nothing extra.
- A halt can reopen lower than it stopped. The 10:17 a.m. halt stopped at $9.94 and reopened at $9.70.
Why it ran
News and SEC filings for XPON published between the previous session's close and the first minute XPON traded 20% above it, at 4:01 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 21.4% to 6.40 at the open, ran from the open to the high of 11.76 in 45 minutes through two halts, then gave back 50% of that move by 4:00 p.m., trading at 9.10.
| Time (ET) | What happened | Watch it |
|---|---|---|
| 4:01 a.m. | First trade 20% above the previous close of 5.27 | |
| 4:08 a.m. | Pre-market high, 7.21 | |
| 9:30 a.m. | The open: 6.40, up 21.4% from the previous close | |
| 9:37 a.m. | Volume since 4:00 a.m. passes the whole float, 962,335 shares | |
| 9:50 a.m. | Halted: LULD pause (limit up-limit down). Trading resumes at 9:55 a.m. | |
| 10:08 a.m. | Halted: LULD pause (limit up-limit down). Trading resumes at 10:13 a.m. | |
| 10:15 a.m. | High of the day to the close, 11.76 | |
| 10:17 a.m. | Halted: LULD pause (limit up-limit down). Trading resumes at 10:27 a.m. | |
| 3:59 p.m. | Last trade before the 4:00 p.m. close, 9.10, 22.6% 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: 903,903 shares before the 9:30 a.m. open (7%), 2.81 million in the first 30 minutes (20%), and 10.15 million in the rest of the day to 8 p.m. (73%).
- Float rotation, the volume since 4 a.m. against the float of 962,335 shares: past it once at 9:37 a.m., twice at 9:49 a.m., three times at 9:56 a.m.
- The halt at 9:50 a.m.: up 13.1% in the 5 minutes into it, reopened at 8.67, up 0.1% from the last trade before it, then up 7.7% over the next 5 minutes.
- The halt at 10:08 a.m.: up 15.7% in the 5 minutes into it, reopened at 10.56, up 2.2% from the last trade before it, then down 5.9% over the next 5 minutes.
- The halt at 10:17 a.m.: down 3.8% in the 5 minutes into it, reopened at 9.70, down 2.4% from the last trade before it, then up 1.8% over the next 5 minutes.
- Other days XPON met the small-cap rule in our recaps: 5, the latest on August 28, 2026.
Halts
| Halted | Resumed | Length | Reason in the feed |
|---|---|---|---|
| 9:50 a.m. | 9:55 a.m. | 5 min 0 s | LULD pause (limit up-limit down) |
| 10:08 a.m. | 10:13 a.m. | 5 min 0 s | LULD pause (limit up-limit down) |
| 10:17 a.m. | 10:27 a.m. | 10 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 XPON on August 26, 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.