Hindsight Markets Recaps Small-cap stocks on August 18, 2026
XOS, August 18: Air Force news after the bell, $5.38 before the open
XOS more than doubled at the open after news and held near that level into the close.
News via Stock News API
What happened
Air Force news
The Air Force contract news came at 4:30 p.m., after a $2.09 close. Before the bell, 29M shares traded, about 3.4 times the float.
Stop It's 7:15 a.m. XOS is at $5.14. It was $4.64 at 7:10 and has traded above $5 since 7:12. The pre-market high so far is $5.25. Would you buy here?
Press play: the real Level 2, tape and chart run from 7:12 a.m. and stop at 7:15 a.m. ET for your call.
That minute made the day's top, $5.38. Two minutes later it was $4.89.
The open and late morning
The open at $4.52 began a slide to $4.01 by 10:24.
Stop It's 10:58. XOS is at $4.57. It was $4.40 a minute ago on 227,181 shares, the most volume in a minute since 10:48. The high so far is $5.38. Would you buy here?
Press play: the real Level 2, tape and chart run from 10:55 a.m. and stop at 10:58 a.m. ET for your call.
A 307K-share buy sweep lifted the minute to $4.95, still under the top. By 11:06 it was $4.12.
The $4.50 wall
From 1:14 p.m., an ask wall sat at $4.50, just above the stock.
Stop It's 3:36. XOS is at $4.48. An ask wall at $4.50 peaked at 93,669 shares at 3:34, and the stock is two cents under it. Would you buy here?
Press play: the real Level 2, tape and chart run from 3:33 p.m. and stop at 3:36 p.m. ET for your call.
Buyers ate 82K shares at $4.50 in under five seconds. The minute reached $4.56. It closed at $4.46.
What to take from it: After the pre-market top, each later push stopped lower.
Replay XOS's day
It starts at 10:40 a.m. ET with the real Level 2, time and sales and chart, from the same feed the replay plays, stops at 10:43 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 and hold. It gapped up 116.3% to $4.52 at the open and held near or above it, trading at $4.46 at 4:00 p.m.
| Time (ET) | What happened | Watch it |
|---|---|---|
| Aug 17, 4:30 p.m. | News (GlobeNewsWire): Xos Secures U.S. Air Force Contract to Deliver Deployable Mobile Charging, Marking Defense Market Entry | |
| 4:00 a.m. | First trade 20% above the previous close of $2.09 | |
| 6:05 a.m. | Volume since 4:00 a.m. passes the whole float, 8.60 million shares | |
| 7:15 a.m. | Pre-market high, $5.38 | |
| 7:15 a.m. | High of the day to the close, $5.38 | |
| 9:30 a.m. | The open: $4.52, up 116.3% from the previous close | |
| 3:59 p.m. | Last trade before the 4:00 p.m. close, $4.46, 17.1% 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
- $2.09
- Open, 9:30 a.m.
- $4.52
- Gap at the open
- +116.3%
- Pre-market high
- $5.38 at 7:15 a.m.
- High, 4 a.m. to 4 p.m.
- $5.38 at 7:15 a.m.
- Low, 4 a.m. to 4 p.m.
- $3.33
- Close, 4 p.m.
- $4.46
- Change at 4 p.m.
- +113.4%
- After-hours high, 4 p.m. to 8 p.m.
- $4.80 at 6:02 p.m.
- Volume, 4 a.m. to 4 p.m.
- 46.39 million
- Volume after hours, 4 p.m. to 8 p.m.
- 1.98 million
- Relative volume by 8 p.m.
- 51.5×
- Float
- 8.60 million shares, from filings as of August 18, 2026
- Shares outstanding
- 14.22 million
- From news to the move: the first trade 20% above the previous close came 11 hours 30 minutes after the latest news item before it (GlobeNewsWire, Aug 17, 4:30 p.m.).
- Volume, from the one-minute bars: 29.19 million shares before the 9:30 a.m. open (60%), 5.23 million in the first 30 minutes (11%), and 13.94 million in the rest of the day to 8 p.m. (29%).
- Float rotation, the volume since 4 a.m. against the float of 8.60 million shares: past it once at 6:05 a.m., twice at 7:01 a.m., three times at 8:21 a.m.
- Other days XOS met the small-cap rule in our recaps: 4, the latest on August 26, 2026.
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 (none)
The exchange's halt feed shows no halts for XOS that day.
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 XOS on August 18, 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.