Hindsight Markets Recaps Small-cap stocks on October 21, 2026
SPHL, October 21: a 1.2M-share float, one halt, and $5.94
SPHL opened up 18%, ran to $5.94 through one halt, then gave back most of the run by the close.
What happened
A tiny float, busy before the bell
SPHL has 1.24M shares in its float, and it was trading from 4:00 a.m. It climbed to a pre-market high of $3.44 at 5:19 a.m. By the open, 2.8M shares had traded, more than twice the float. It opened at $2.87.
The halt
It was halted at 9:33:42 at $3.93, a volatility pause.
Stop It's 9:38. SPHL is about to reopen from a halt that began at 9:33:42. The last trade was $3.93, up from a $2.87 open. Would you buy the reopen?
Press play: the real Level 2, tape and chart run from 9:35 a.m. and stop at 9:38 a.m. ET for your call.
It reopened at 9:38:42 and traded as high as $4.82 that minute.
Stop It's 9:56. SPHL is at $5.25. It has been between $4.56 and $5.54 for the last ten minutes. Would you buy a break higher here?
Press play: the real Level 2, tape and chart run from 9:53 a.m. and stop at 9:56 a.m. ET for your call.
It spiked to $5.94, the high of the day. A 50,000-share ask wall at $6.68 appeared at 9:56:22 and was pulled at 9:57:24.
A bid that sellers ate
A bounce to $4.17 came at 10:23. From 10:52 a bid at $3.50 built to 36,535 shares by 11:59. At 12:30:36 sellers hit it, and 28,898 shares traded at $3.50 in under four seconds. The price fell to $3.11 by 12:56 and closed at $3.52, 41% under the high.
What to take from it: SPHL peaked 26 minutes after the open, and a $3.50 bid of 36,535 shares was sold through at 12:30.
Replay SPHL's day
It starts at 9:23 a.m. ET with the real Level 2, time and sales and chart, from the same feed the replay plays, stops at 9:26 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, gave some back. It gapped up 18.1% to $2.87 at the open, ran from the open to the high of $5.94 in 26 minutes through a halt, then gave back 79% of that move by 4:00 p.m., trading at $3.52, still above the open.
| Time (ET) | What happened | Watch it |
|---|---|---|
| 4:00 a.m. | First trade 20% above the previous close of $2.43 | |
| 5:19 a.m. | Pre-market high, $3.44 | |
| 5:24 a.m. | Volume since 4:00 a.m. passes the whole float, 1.24 million shares | |
| 9:30 a.m. | The open: $2.87, up 18.1% from the previous close | |
| 9:56 a.m. | High of the day to the close, $5.94 | |
| 3:59 p.m. | Last trade before the 4:00 p.m. close, $3.52, 40.7% 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
- $2.43
- Open, 9:30 a.m.
- $2.87
- Gap at the open
- +18.1%
- Pre-market high
- $3.44 at 5:19 a.m.
- High, 4 a.m. to 4 p.m.
- $5.94 at 9:56 a.m.
- Low, 4 a.m. to 4 p.m.
- $2.75
- Close, 4 p.m.
- $3.52
- Change at 4 p.m.
- +44.9%
- After-hours high, 4 p.m. to 8 p.m.
- $3.72 at 4:17 p.m.
- Volume, 4 a.m. to 4 p.m.
- 16.34 million
- Volume after hours, 4 p.m. to 8 p.m.
- 383,787
- Relative volume by 8 p.m.
- 34.7×
- Float
- 1.24 million shares, from filings as of October 21, 2026
- Shares outstanding
- 12.26 million
- Volume, from the one-minute bars: 2.77 million shares before the 9:30 a.m. open (17%), 6.63 million in the first 30 minutes (40%), and 7.32 million in the rest of the day to 8 p.m. (44%).
- Float rotation, the volume since 4 a.m. against the float of 1.24 million shares: past it once at 5:24 a.m., twice at 8:00 a.m., three times at 9:38 a.m.
- Other days SPHL met the small-cap rule in our recaps: 2, the latest on October 20, 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 (1)
| Halted | Resumed | Length | The 5 minutes into it | Reopened at, against the last trade | The 5 minutes after | Reason in the feed | Watch it |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 9:33 a.m. | 9:38 a.m. | 5 min 0 s | up 33.7% | $3.94, up 0.3% | up 30.5% | 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 SPHL on October 21, 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.