Hindsight Markets Small-cap stocks on September 23, 2026
FTFT on September 23, 2026: why it ran
On September 23, 2026, FTFT opened down 3.2% from the previous close of 4.02 and reached 6.13 at 12:12 p.m. ET. The exchange halted it 2 times.
- Previous close
- 4.02
- Open, 9:30 a.m.
- 3.89
- Gap at the open
- down 3.2%
- Pre-market high
- 4.11 at 4:00 a.m.
- High, 4 a.m. to 4 p.m.
- 6.13 at 12:12 p.m.
- Low, 4 a.m. to 4 p.m.
- 3.83
- After-hours high, 4 p.m. to 8 p.m.
- 4.53 at 4:59 p.m.
- Last trade before 4:00 p.m.
- 4.43
- Volume
- 2.27 million
- Relative volume
- 0.5x
- Float
- 7.91 million shares, from filings as of September 23, 2026
- Shares outstanding
- 8.06 million
Replay FTFT's day
It starts at 11:48 a.m. ET with the real Level 2, time and sales and chart, from the same feed the replay plays, stops at 11:51 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: midday
- No news
- Halted twice
- Halt reopen
- Lower high
Before the open
The official previous close was $4.02. The stock has a small float of 7.9 million shares.
Pre-market was very quiet. The high was $4.11 at 4:00 a.m. Only 3,415 shares traded before the bell. By 8:14 a.m. it was at $3.91, and it opened at $3.89, below the close.
A quiet morning
The morning went nowhere. It reached $4.09 at 9:41, then slipped. The low since the open was $3.83 at 10:31.
By 11:07 it was at $4.02, the same as the previous close. There was no news in the data for the day.
11:09: the move starts
At 11:09 it woke up. That minute traded 27,051 shares, and it went from $4.01 to $4.19. It held above $4.07 for the next few minutes.
11:26: the decision
Stop It's 11:26. FTFT opened this minute at $4.53 and has gone from $4.01 at 11:09 to $4.51 at 11:25, with 27,051 shares in the 11:09 minute. Would you buy here?
Press play: the real Level 2, time and sales and chart stop at 11:26 a.m. ET for your call, then show what happened. The clip starts at 11:23 a.m. ET.
At 11:26:47 it was halted (a volatility pause) after a minute that closed at $4.87.
It reopened at 11:37:33 at $5.55, 14% above the $4.87 where it stopped. A single trade of 20,451 shares printed at $5.55 at the reopen.
It dropped to $5.00 and at 11:38:03 it was halted again. It reopened at 11:43:03 at $5.00. A single trade of 17,466 shares printed at $5.00 at that moment.
$4.64 to $5.65
The 11:43 minute was wild. It ran between $4.64 and $5.30 and traded 89,860 shares. At 11:43:38 one buy order swept 14,105 shares from $4.64 to $4.91 across 17 levels.
After a dip to $4.83 at 11:50, it ran again. It hit $5.65 at 11:58, up 22% from the $4.64 low.
12:05: another push
After a pullback to $5.16 at 12:03, it started up again at 12:05 from $5.31. The 12:06 minute traded 149,521 shares, the most of the day, and reached $6.02. At 12:06:40 a buy order swept 11,366 shares from $5.96 to $6.02.
Stop It's 12:12. FTFT is at $5.89 and has run from $5.31 at 12:05. It reached $6.07 in the 12:11 minute. Would you buy here?
Press play: the real Level 2, time and sales and chart stop at 12:12 p.m. ET for your call, then show what happened. The clip starts at 12:09 p.m. ET.
At 12:12 it hit $6.13, the high of the day. The same minute it fell to $5.75, and it closed the minute there.
The drop to $4.18
It gave back much of the move. By 12:14 it was at $5.27 and by 12:20 at $4.75. It kept sliding and hit $4.18 at 12:56, down 32% from the high.
The rest of the day
The afternoon was a tight range, mostly $4.30 to $4.45. At 3:32 p.m. it pushed to $4.52, a lower high under the $6.13 top.
The last regular-session bar closed at $4.35, above the $4.02 previous close but 29% under the high. 2.23 million shares traded in the regular session, about 0.45 of its normal volume.
What to take from it
- A halt can reopen far above where it stopped, and the book is thin. The first halt stopped at $4.87 and reopened at $5.55. A 5,000-share buy would have cost $2,278 more than the screen showed.
- A quiet stock can move on no news. FTFT sat near $4 until 11:09, then ran to $6.13 by 12:12.
- After the top, the next push stopped lower. $6.13 at 12:12 p.m., then $4.52 at 3:32 p.m.
Why it ran
News and SEC filings for FTFT published between the previous session's close and the first minute FTFT traded 20% above it, at 11:26 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 3.2% at 3.89, then ran from the open to the high of 6.13 in 162 minutes through two halts.
| Time (ET) | What happened | Watch it |
|---|---|---|
| 4:00 a.m. | Pre-market high, 4.11 | |
| 9:30 a.m. | The open: 3.89, down 3.2% from the previous close | |
| 11:26 a.m. | First trade 20% above the previous close of 4.02 | |
| 11:26 a.m. | Halted: LULD pause (limit up-limit down). Trading resumes at 11:37 a.m. | |
| 11:38 a.m. | Halted: LULD pause (limit up-limit down). Trading resumes at 11:43 a.m. | |
| 12:12 p.m. | High of the day to the close, 6.13 | |
| 3:59 p.m. | Last trade before the 4:00 p.m. close, 4.43, 27.7% 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: 3,415 shares before the 9:30 a.m. open (0%), 18,910 in the first 30 minutes (1%), and 2.24 million in the rest of the day to 8 p.m. (99%).
- The halt at 11:26 a.m.: up 15.4% in the 5 minutes into it, reopened at 5.55, up 14.0% from the last trade before it, then down 9.9% over the next 5 minutes.
- The halt at 11:38 a.m.: up 2.7% in the 5 minutes into it, reopened at 5.00, unchanged from the last trade before it, then up 2.0% over the next 5 minutes.
- Other days FTFT met the small-cap rule in our recaps: 5, the latest on September 16, 2026.
Halts
| Halted | Resumed | Length | Reason in the feed |
|---|---|---|---|
| 11:26 a.m. | 11:37 a.m. | 10 min 46 s | LULD pause (limit up-limit down) |
| 11:38 a.m. | 11:43 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 FTFT on September 23, 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.