TCRT on October 13, 2026: why it ran

The day, step by step

• Small cap
• Momentum
• Main move: midday
• Catalyst: acquisition news
• Ask wall break
• Halted twice
• Float traded 37x
• Lower high, faded

Pre-market: the float traded by 7:07 a.m.

TCRT closed at $1.05 on October 12. For hours on the 13th it barely moved. It traded between $0.92 and $1.03 from 4:00 a.m. until 6:56 a.m., on very small volume.

At 7:00 a.m. PRNewsWire ran this headline: “Paragon Labs Expands Leadership Team with Former Apogee Executives; Velaris Therapeutics Acquired by Alaunos Therapeutics, Inc.” The stock was already moving that minute. The 7:03 minute traded 91,208 shares.

The 7:05 minute ran from $1.20 to $2.24. Over 1.09 million shares traded in that one minute. By 7:07 a.m., more shares had traded than exist in the whole float (2.31 million).

Then it fell hard. The 7:10 candle dropped to $1.37 and the 7:11 minute hit $1.22. It ran again to $2.17 at 7:18, fell to $1.55 at 7:21, and kept swinging. It made a high of $2.37 at 7:26 and $2.40 at 7:33, with a dip to $1.84 at 7:31 in between.

The pre-market high was $2.63 at 8:08 a.m. After that it slid to $1.45 at 8:28. It bounced to $2.24 at 9:13, then dropped to $1.48 at 9:19. 32.46 million shares traded before the bell.

At 9:28 a.m. the company filed an 8-K.

The open and the walls at $2.00

It opened at $1.75, up 67% from the previous close. A single print of 102,512 shares went through at $1.75 at 9:30:00.

There was stock offered at exactly $2.00 from 8:26 a.m. It reached about 74,000 shares at 9:33, across all exchanges. At 9:33:44 buyers started hitting it, and in about 11 seconds, 69,851 shares traded at $2.00. The wall was gone by 9:33:56.

It didn't hold. It reached $2.09 at 9:34, then fell to $1.54 at 9:43. The 9:40 minute alone dropped from $2.06 to $1.59 on 870,628 shares.

A second $2.00 wall appeared at 9:42. From 9:44 to about 10:34 the stock sat mostly between $1.65 and $1.90. The second wall grew to about 80,000 shares by 10:39 and was eaten at 10:39:54.

The wall at $2.10

Stock had been offered at exactly $2.10 since 8:56 a.m. It peaked at 97,448 shares at 9:34, about 4% of the float. It sat there for over an hour.

At 10:41:34 shares began trading at exactly $2.10. In under a second, 105,693 shares traded at exactly $2.10 and the wall was gone. It wasn't pulled. Buyers ate it. The 10:42 minute then traded 1.33 million shares, and a single buy order swept 126,043 shares from $2.28 to $2.40.

The wall at $2.50

Another ask wall sat at $2.50. It was first seen at 7:56 a.m. and peaked at 143,622 shares at 10:43:23, 6.2% of the float. That is bigger than the one at $2.10.

At 10:44:05 buyers began eating it. 69,283 shares traded at exactly $2.50 in half a second. The 10:44 minute ran to $2.56.

At 10:48 it ran from $2.41 to $2.84 on 1.54 million shares, with three buy sweeps in four seconds from 10:48:16. At 10:48:40 it was halted (a volatility pause), last trade $2.84. A bid wall of 167,391 shares showed at $2.84 as it halted.

The reopen and the first top

It reopened at 10:53:40 at $2.64, 7% below where it stopped. 174,074 shares printed at $2.64 on the reopen. A sell order then swept 84,806 shares from $2.88 down to $2.59 across 25 levels.

The 10:54 minute hit $3.12, up 89% from $1.65 at 10:32. Then it faded to $2.31 at 11:03.

The midday run

From 11:01 it chopped between $2.21 and $2.79 for the next 47 minutes. At 11:49 it started up again. The 11:54 minute ran from $2.90 to $3.31. A 169,508-share buy order swept $2.99 to $3.19 at 11:54:37. At 11:55 it reached $3.39. At 11:57 it dropped back to $2.86.

It came back at 12:01 and traded between $2.87 and $3.26 for twelve minutes. The 12:13 minute broke out. A 170,249-share buy order swept $3.33 to $3.64 across 32 levels at 12:13:32.

At 12:14:31 it was halted (a volatility pause), last trade $3.88. It reopened at 12:19:31 at $3.90, above where it stopped. 128,531 shares printed at $3.90 on the reopen.

The top at $4.32

The 12:19 minute made $4.32, the high of the day. It was up 311% from the $1.05 close. Within five minutes it was back at $3.55.

The rest of the day and after hours

It came back once more. At 12:28 it pushed to $3.97, a lower high under $4.32. From there it faded to $3.07 at 1:00 p.m. and $2.61 at 2:53 p.m. It bounced after 3:00 and closed at $3.04.

By the close, 53.94 million shares had traded in the regular session. Over the whole day it was 94.09 million, about 65 times normal volume. The float changed hands about 37 times by the 4:00 p.m. close, counting the pre-market.

After hours it ran from $2.73 at 4:04 p.m. to $3.97 by 7:36 p.m., up 45%.

What to take from it

• A big ask wall at a round price is a level, not a ceiling. The $2.10 and $2.50 walls were both eaten in under a second. The bigger of the two, at $2.50, came right before the first halt.
• A halt can reopen lower than it stopped, or higher. The 10:48 halt stopped at $2.84 and reopened at $2.64. The 12:14 halt stopped at $3.88 and reopened at $3.90. The high of the day came in the minute of the reopen.
• Every push after the top stopped lower. $4.32 at 12:19, then $4.25 at 12:20 and $3.97 at 12:28.

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