Hindsight Markets Recaps Small-cap stocks on September 21, 2026
SPRU, September 21: a gap that faded
SPRU opened up 19%, then faded below its open by the close.
What happened
Before the open
We found no news or filing before the move. Before the bell it reached $2.40, on 239K shares.
The open
It opened up 19%, at $2.28.
The close
It closed at $2.04, 15% under its high.
What to take from it: A big gap is not a trend. This one traded below its open by the close.
The details
How it traded, step by step
Gap and fade. It gapped up 19.4% to $2.28 at the open and traded below the open by 4:00 p.m., at $2.04.
| Time (ET) | What happened |
|---|---|
| 4:38 a.m. | First trade 20% above the previous close of $1.91 |
| 9:11 a.m. | Pre-market high, $2.40 |
| 9:11 a.m. | High of the day to the close, $2.40 |
| 9:30 a.m. | The open: $2.28, up 19.4% from the previous close |
| 3:59 p.m. | Last trade before the 4:00 p.m. close, $2.04, 15.0% 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
- $1.91
- Open, 9:30 a.m.
- $2.28
- Gap at the open
- +19.4%
- Pre-market high
- $2.40 at 9:11 a.m.
- High, 4 a.m. to 4 p.m.
- $2.40 at 9:11 a.m.
- Low, 4 a.m. to 4 p.m.
- $1.90
- Close, 4 p.m.
- $2.04
- Change at 4 p.m.
- +6.8%
- After-hours high, 4 p.m. to 8 p.m.
- $2.15 at 4:04 p.m.
- Volume, 4 a.m. to 4 p.m.
- 576,824
- Volume after hours, 4 p.m. to 8 p.m.
- 26,230
- Relative volume by 8 p.m.
- 13.7×
- Float
- 13.97 million shares, from filings as of September 21, 2026
- Shares outstanding
- 19.25 million
- Volume, from the one-minute bars: 238,933 shares before the 9:30 a.m. open (40%), 89,075 in the first 30 minutes (15%), and 275,046 in the rest of the day to 8 p.m. (46%).
- In our recaps, this is the only day SPRU met the small-cap rule.
On the day's lists: the pre-market gappers. 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 SPRU 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 SPRU on September 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.