Hindsight Markets Small-cap stocks on September 30, 2026
NCI on September 30, 2026: why it ran
On September 30, 2026, NCI opened up 41.3% from the previous close of 1.26 and reached 2.56 at 4:00 a.m. ET. The exchange halted it once.
- Previous close
- 1.26
- Open, 9:30 a.m.
- 1.78
- Gap at the open
- up 41.3%
- Pre-market high
- 2.56 at 4:00 a.m.
- High, 4 a.m. to 4 p.m.
- 2.56 at 4:00 a.m.
- Low, 4 a.m. to 4 p.m.
- 1.10
- After-hours high, 4 p.m. to 8 p.m.
- 1.34 at 5:39 p.m.
- Last trade before 4:00 p.m.
- 1.26
- Volume
- 8.64 million
- Relative volume
- 8.2x
- Float
- 2.03 million shares, from filings as of September 30, 2026
- Shares outstanding
- 2.36 million
Replay NCI'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: pre-market
- Gap and fade
- News: offering headline at 9:35
- Halted once
- Halt reopened lower
- Float traded 4x
The day before
On September 29, NCI opened at $2.13 and reached $2.53. It closed at $1.26, the low of the day. About 5.13 million shares traded.
Pre-market: the top came in the first minute
The first trades on the 30th were at $2.36, already well above the $1.26 close. The pre-market high was $2.56, in the 4:00 a.m. minute. That minute closed at $2.34.
It tried once more. At 4:03 a.m. it reached $2.53, a lower high under $2.56. In that same minute, at 4:03:29, one sell order of 62,077 shares went through 12 price levels, from $2.47 down to $2.36.
After that it slid. By 4:32 a.m., more shares had traded than exist in the whole float (2.03 million). It was $2.05 by then. It dipped to $1.90 at 5:23 a.m., sat around $1.83 to $1.89 through most of 6:00 to 8:00, and fell to just under $1.59 at 8:27 a.m. 4.28 million shares traded before the bell.
9:35: the headline and the halt
The open was $1.78, 41% above the $1.26 previous close. At 9:32 it pushed to $1.94.
At 9:35 GlobeNewsWire ran: “Neo-Concept International Group Holdings Ltd Announces Pricing of $2.0 Million Registered Direct Offering”. The 9:35 minute started at $1.88 and fell to $1.49, with 363,593 shares traded. At 9:35:29 it was halted (a volatility pause).
Starting just before the halt, offers stacked up. At $1.49 there were 198,399 shares at 9:35:29, 9.8% of the float. Offers also built at $1.40 (up to 82,380 shares), $1.35 and $1.34.
It reopened at 9:40:29 at $1.37, 8% below the $1.49 where it stopped. An 81,036-share print crossed at $1.37 at 9:40:29. A second later all of the $1.49, $1.40 and $1.35 offers were gone from the book, and the $1.34 offers were gone six seconds after that.
The price kept falling. The 9:40 minute traded 511,577 shares and went down to $1.17. At 9:40:38 one sell order of 43,229 shares ran from $1.32 to $1.25. The low so far was $1.10 at 9:41.
The wall at $1.32
From 9:40:39, offers appeared at exactly $1.32. They peaked at 59,657 shares at 9:41:03, about 3% of the float. The stock sat under it and chopped between $1.10 and $1.26 through 9:43.
Stop It's 9:44. NCI is at $1.24. The low so far was $1.10, three minutes ago. Since 9:40, a wall of offers at $1.32 has peaked near 59,657 shares. Would you buy here?
Press play: the real Level 2, time and sales and chart stop at 9:44 a.m. ET for your call, then show what happened. The clip starts at 9:41 a.m. ET.
Trading at $1.32 began at 9:44:53. In 2.4 seconds, 46,488 shares traded at exactly $1.32 and the wall was gone. It wasn't pulled. Buyers ate it. One buy order of 47,979 shares ran from $1.29 to $1.32 across four levels.
The move didn't carry far. It touched $1.36 at 9:50 and sat near $1.30 to $1.33 for a few minutes. By 10:03 it was back at $1.22.
11:01 and the afternoon
Stop It's 11:01. NCI is at $1.34. It sat near $1.29 until 10:58, then traded up to $1.35 in the 10:59 and 11:00 minutes. Would you buy here?
Press play: the real Level 2, time and sales and chart stop at 11:01 a.m. ET for your call, then show what happened. The clip starts at 10:58 a.m. ET.
The 11:01 minute went to $1.46 on 133,783 shares, the biggest volume of the day after 10:00. At 11:01:04 a buy order of 47,273 shares ran from $1.34 to $1.39. At 11:01:09 another of 37,028 shares ran from $1.40 to $1.46. It was back at $1.37 by 11:03.
From there it drifted. Another offer wall at $1.30 peaked at 53,341 shares and stood from 12:05 until it was pulled at 3:59 p.m. The stock fell to $1.19 at 2:06 p.m. The 3:59 p.m. bar ended just over $1.26.
From the open to 4:00 p.m., 4.10 million shares traded. For the whole day with extended hours, 8.64 million shares traded: the float changed hands about 4 times. After hours it stayed between $1.19 and $1.34.
What to take from it
- The top came before the bell. $2.56 came in the 4:00 a.m. minute, and the next push, $2.53 at 4:03, stopped lower.
- A halt can reopen lower, and the book can change in a second. The 9:35 halt stopped at $1.49 and reopened at $1.37, and the offers stacked at $1.49, $1.40 and $1.35 were gone at once.
- A wall that breaks does not guarantee a run. The $1.32 wall fell in 2.4 seconds, yet the stock was back at $1.22 by 10:03.
Why it ran
News and SEC filings for NCI published between the previous session's close and the first minute NCI 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 41.3% to 1.78 at the open, ran from the open to the high of 1.97 in 3 minutes, then gave back 371% of that move by 4:00 p.m., trading at 1.26.
| Time (ET) | What happened | Watch it |
|---|---|---|
| 4:00 a.m. | First trade 20% above the previous close of 1.26 | |
| 4:00 a.m. | Pre-market high, 2.56 | |
| 4:00 a.m. | High of the day to the close, 2.56 | |
| 4:32 a.m. | Volume since 4:00 a.m. passes the whole float, 2.03 million shares | |
| 9:30 a.m. | The open: 1.78, up 41.3% from the previous close | |
| 9:35 a.m. | Halted: LULD pause (limit up-limit down). Trading resumes at 9:40 a.m. | |
| 3:59 p.m. | Last trade before the 4:00 p.m. close, 1.26, 50.6% 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: 4.28 million shares before the 9:30 a.m. open (50%), 2.32 million in the first 30 minutes (27%), and 2.03 million in the rest of the day to 8 p.m. (24%).
- Float rotation, the volume since 4 a.m. against the float of 2.03 million shares: past it once at 4:32 a.m., twice at 8:27 a.m., three times at 9:44 a.m.
- The halt at 9:35 a.m.: down 15.3% in the 5 minutes into it, reopened at 1.37, down 8.1% from the last trade before it, then down 5.1% over the next 5 minutes.
- Other days NCI met the small-cap rule in our recaps: 1, the latest on September 29, 2026.
Halts
| Halted | Resumed | Length | Reason in the feed |
|---|---|---|---|
| 9:35 a.m. | 9:40 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 NCI on September 30, 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.