PMAX on September 24, 2026: why it ran

The day, step by step

• Small cap
• Momentum
• Main move: the morning
• Halted seven times
• Halt reopen swings
• Ask wall eaten
• Lower high
• Float traded 17x

Pre-market: quiet, then $1.07

PMAX closed the day before at $0.91. The first trade on the 24th was at 4:00 a.m., $0.96. Apart from the spike at 7:54, the pre-market drifted between $0.91 and $1.03 on small volume.

The pre-market high was $1.07 at 7:54 a.m., in a minute that traded 20,974 shares and closed at $1.00. In total, 103,173 shares traded before the bell, about 8% of the 1.31-million-share float. Our data shows no news headline for the day.

The open, and a 30-minute halt

It opened at $1.02, up 12% from the previous close. The first minute traded 2,027 shares. At 9:32 it dipped to $0.96, and by 9:36 it was back at $1.03.

At 9:37 the volume woke up. The minute ranged from $1.03 to $1.24 on 33,446 shares. The 9:38 minute reached $1.29 on 51,544 shares. At 9:38:21 it was halted (a volatility pause) with the last trade at $1.29.

The halt lasted 30 minutes. It reopened at 10:08:41 at $2.34, 81% above where it stopped. The first print was a single 185,371-share trade at $2.34, about 14% of the 1.31-million-share float.

Four halts in 22 minutes, and the top

From the $2.34 reopen it ran to $2.81, the high so far, in the 10:08 minute. That was up 208% from the $0.91 previous close. At 10:08:56 it was halted again with the last trade at $2.81.

It reopened at 10:13:56 at $1.90, 32% below where it stopped. The 10:13 minute traded as low as $1.65.

Then it swung back up. The 10:14 minute went from $1.82 to $2.28. Level 2 shows a bid wall at $2.28, first seen at 10:14:17. It peaked at 99,853 shares at 10:14:29, 7.6% of the float. At 10:14:30 it was halted again. The wall was pulled at 10:19:32, two seconds after the reopen at $2.29. The 10:19 minute fell from $2.29 to $1.83.

The 10:14:30 halt lasted five minutes, and so did the next two. It was halted at 10:20:02 and reopened at 10:25:02 at $1.68. It was halted at 10:25:39 and reopened at 10:30:39 at $2.16. By the end of the 10:19 minute, counting pre-market, more shares had traded than exist in the whole float (1.31 million).

A second push

After the 10:30:39 reopen at $2.16, the stock climbed for the next few minutes. Volume was heavy: 597,354 shares in the 10:32 minute and 538,832 in the 10:33 minute.

Here's what happened. At 10:35 it pushed to $2.80, a lower high under the $2.81 top. At 10:35:25 one buy order swept 27,056 shares from $2.72 to $2.80 across 9 price levels. Eight seconds later a sell order moved 27,044 shares from $2.64 down to $2.60.

It touched $2.80 again at 10:36 and 10:40 and could not get above it. At 10:43:23 a sell sweep took 44,459 shares from $2.44 to $2.35 across 10 levels. Ten seconds later another took 29,651 shares from $2.31 to $2.25. The 10:43 minute closed at $2.22.

The wall at $2.01

At 10:44:38 an ask wall appeared at exactly $2.01. It grew to 159,464 shares at 10:44:50, about 12% of the float. One second later, at 10:44:51, the stock was halted with the last trade at $2.01.

Here's what happened. It reopened at 10:49:51 with an 88,060-share print at $2.01. In under a second, 37,814 shares traded at exactly $2.01 and the wall was gone (10:49:53). Buyers ate it. At 10:49:52 one buy sweep took 34,043 shares from $2.01 to $2.05.

The 10:50 minute closed at $2.35 and the next one reached $2.46. Then it slid to $1.80 by 10:57.

A second wall showed up on the way down. An ask wall at $1.80 was first seen at 10:57:19 and peaked at 150,697 shares at 10:57:28 (11.5% of the float). At 10:57:33 it was halted for the seventh time, with the last trade at $1.80. The wall was pulled at 11:01:26. It reopened at 11:02:33 at $1.91, on an 81,344-share print.

The rest of the day

By 11:11, about ten times the float had traded. It had sunk to $1.74 by then. It tried again: $2.04 at 11:22, with a 35,818-share buy sweep from $1.94 to $1.98. At 11:27 a 51,930-share sweep went from $1.98 to $2.00. Both stayed far under the $2.81 top.

It then faded. It hit $1.54 at 12:12 on a 33,418-share sell sweep. It bounced to $1.79 at 12:32 and touched $1.45 at 1:20 p.m. From 2 p.m. to the close it stayed between $1.48 and $1.75.

Level 2 showed a bid wall at $1.46 from 2:29 p.m. It peaked at 73,521 shares at 2:31 and was pulled at 3:54. A bid wall at $1.65 appeared at 3:55 and was pulled at 3:58. The last regular-session minute, 3:59, traded 51,548 shares. The stock closed at $1.64, 42% under the $2.81 high of the day.

After hours it bounced to $1.96 at 4:10 p.m. and was at $1.72 by 7:59 p.m. About 1.94 million shares traded after hours.

By the 4 p.m. close, 21.71 million shares had traded: the float changed hands about 17 times, at about 464 times its normal volume. It was halted 7 times.

What to take from it

• A halt reopen can land far from where the stock stopped, in either direction. The 9:38 halt stopped at $1.29 and reopened at $2.34. The 10:08 halt stopped at $2.81 and reopened at $1.90.
• Buying in the first seconds after a reopen or a wall break can cost more than the screen shows. Here, 5,000 shares cost $265 over the screen at the 10:13 reopen and $241 over after the $2.01 wall broke.
• After the top, the next push stopped lower. $2.81 at 10:08, then $2.80 at 10:35, then $2.04 at 11:22. It closed at $1.64, 42% under the high.

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