Hindsight Markets Recaps Small-cap stocks on August 13, 2026
DFSC, August 13: a 7:29 headline, three halts, and $3.57
DFSC more than doubled at the open after news, ran to $3.57 through three halts, then fell below its open by the close.
News via Stock News API
What happened
Results, then a run
A 7:29 results headline came first, but the real jump came at 9:02: $1.53 to $2.18 in one minute. It opened at $2.58, up 105%.
A 178K-share bid sat at $3.02. After the first halt it ran to $3.49. Then, at 9:35:49, the $3.02 bid was eaten in one second. It fell to $2.43 by 9:37.
Stop It's 9:43. DFSC is at $2.78. Since 9:38 it has traded between $2.52 and $2.93, and the $3.02 bid that broke at 9:35 is behind it. Would you buy here?
Press play: the real Level 2, tape and chart run from 9:40 a.m. and stop at 9:43 a.m. ET for your call.
A halt and a thin reopen
It ran on, to $3.57 at 9:45. A halt froze it at 9:45:49. It reopened 10% lower, at $3.20.
Afternoon fade
It chopped between $2.08 and $2.55 into midday.
Stop It's 12:55. DFSC is at $2.40. Since noon it has traded between $2.10 and $2.50, on thin volume compared with the morning. Would you buy here?
Press play: the real Level 2, tape and chart run from 12:52 p.m. and stop at 12:55 p.m. ET for your call.
It pushed to $2.88 at 1:03, a lower high, then dropped to $2.28 by 1:06. It closed at $2.30.
What to take from it: On this day, the reopen after the high was the thin part: the screen price was not the fill.
Replay DFSC's day
It starts at 8:44 a.m. ET with the real Level 2, time and sales and chart, from the same feed the replay plays, stops at 8:47 a.m. and asks what you would do. Or press Play on any moment in How it traded.
The details
How it traded, step by step
Gap, run and fade. It gapped up 104.8% to $2.58 at the open, ran from the open to the high of $3.57 in 15 minutes through a halt, then gave back 128% of that move by 4:00 p.m., trading at $2.30, below the open.
| Time (ET) | What happened | Watch it |
|---|---|---|
| 7:29 a.m. | News (PRNewsWire): DEFSEC Technologies Inc. Announces Third Quarter Fiscal 2026 Results | |
| 8:19 a.m. | First trade 20% above the previous close of $1.26 | |
| 9:11 a.m. | Volume since 4:00 a.m. passes the whole float, 2.66 million shares | |
| 9:29 a.m. | Pre-market high, $2.72 | |
| 9:30 a.m. | The open: $2.58, up 104.8% from the previous close | |
| 9:45 a.m. | High of the day to the close, $3.57 | |
| 3:59 p.m. | Last trade before the 4:00 p.m. close, $2.30, 35.6% below the high |
The shape's name comes from a fixed rule, not a judgement (how shapes are named). Halts are in the halt table below.
The day in numbers
- Previous close
- $1.26
- Open, 9:30 a.m.
- $2.58
- Gap at the open
- +104.8%
- Pre-market high
- $2.72 at 9:29 a.m.
- High, 4 a.m. to 4 p.m.
- $3.57 at 9:45 a.m.
- Low, 4 a.m. to 4 p.m.
- $1.24
- Close, 4 p.m.
- $2.30
- Change at 4 p.m.
- +82.5%
- After-hours high, 4 p.m. to 8 p.m.
- $2.76 at 4:35 p.m.
- Volume, 4 a.m. to 4 p.m.
- 38.95 million
- Volume after hours, 4 p.m. to 8 p.m.
- 2.22 million
- Relative volume by 8 p.m.
- 1550.6×
- Float
- 2.66 million shares, from filings as of August 13, 2026
- Shares outstanding
- 2.67 million
- From news to the move: the first trade 20% above the previous close came 50 minutes after the latest news item before it (PRNewsWire, 7:29 a.m.).
- Volume, from the one-minute bars: 9.55 million shares before the 9:30 a.m. open (23%), 9.16 million in the first 30 minutes (22%), and 22.46 million in the rest of the day to 8 p.m. (55%).
- Float rotation, the volume since 4 a.m. against the float of 2.66 million shares: past it once at 9:11 a.m., twice at 9:19 a.m., three times at 9:27 a.m.
- Other days DFSC met the small-cap rule in our recaps: 1, the latest on August 14, 2026.
- The next session, August 14, 2026, it gapped up 12.1% at 9:30 a.m.
On the day's lists: the pre-market gappers, gainers, intraday runners. It is here because it met the small-cap rule on the pre-market gappers: price $2 to $20, up 10% or more, relative volume 5× or more, float under 20 million shares, its high reached $1 or more and it started the day at $20 or under (the rule every page uses).
Halts (3)
| Halted | Resumed | Length | The 5 minutes into it | Reopened at, against the last trade | The 5 minutes after | Reason in the feed | Watch it |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 9:30 a.m. | 9:35 a.m. | 5 min 0 s | up 35.4% | $3.15, up 4.3% | down 12.7% | LULD pause (limit up-limit down) | |
| 9:45 a.m. | 9:50 a.m. | 5 min 0 s | up 33.7% | $3.20, down 10.4% | down 20.0% | LULD pause (limit up-limit down) | |
| 9:51 a.m. | 10:01 a.m. | 10 min 0 s | down 28.3% | $2.35, down 8.2% | up 6.8% | LULD pause (limit up-limit down) |
Halt bands that day: the LULD plan's Amendment 18 rules (what that means, LULD calculator).
How we read the data, name a day's shape and pick the stocks: methodology.
Trade this day
Replay DFSC on August 13, 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.