— Why it moved
Why DCOY Stock Spiked and Faded Today — September 22, 2026
Decoy Therapeutics pumped over fifty percent after announcing a warrant restructuring deal and viral pipeline pivot before collapsing under dilution fears.
What moved DCOY stock
Decoy Therapeutics develops peptide-based antiviral therapies for infectious diseases. Pre-market headlines hit showing a $3.85 million warrant inducement agreement priced at $3.25 a share, accompanied by a strategy expansion targeting Ebola and Marburg viruses. A follow-up correction clarified those new warrants were immediately exercisable, handing an institutional investor fresh stock right into the morning volume.
The mechanics
With a tiny float of 586,404 shares and a market cap sitting under two million bucks, the PR flood triggered instant chaos. Trading volume smashed past 105 million shares, cycling the entire public float over 170 times throughout the day.
DCOY by the numbers
The alert window
The 8:00 AM alert caught it at $5.00. It traded down to $4.26 at the session's start, testing your nerve with a 14.8% drawdown before reversing higher. It ripped to $7.61 by 9:41 AM, handing a 52.3% window over 101 minutes if you sat through the early dip. You had 202 total minutes above the alert level before gravity took over.
How DCOY's move ended
It ended as a classic dilution crash, sinking to $3.09 by the close to finish 38.2% below the alert price. When a micro-cap prints millions of fresh exercisable warrants at a discount, any early morning spike is just liquidity for the holders looking to cash out.
The tell: When a micro-cap pairs pipeline PR with immediate warrant exercises, the early pop is almost always designed to absorb dilution.