US SEC halts trading in stock after 959% surge in 14 sessions

Shares of QMMM Holdings Ltd., listed on Wall Street, were suspended from trading by the US Securities and Exchange Commission on Monday, after the stock surged nearly 1,000% in just 14 trading sessions, and this is after declining 50% from the peak.

The US SEC fears that the shares of this digital media advertising company could be manipulated by social media touts.

Earlier this month, QMMM announced that it will be establishing a "diversified cryptocurrency treasury", which will initially be worth $100 million and target Bitcoin, Ethereum and Solana.

On the day of this announcement on September 9, the stock rocketed from $11 to $207, and since then, had a wild ride before the SEC pulled the plug.

Date	Price ($)	Gain / Fall
September 09	207	1,781%
September 10	109.5	-47.1%
September 11	75.53	-31%
September 12	74.22	-1.73%
September 15	71.75	-3.33%
September 16	88	22.65%
September 17	105.64	20%
September 18	89.02	-15.73%
September 19	82.84	-6.94%
September 22	105.9	27.84%
September 23	109	2.93%
September 24	95	-12.84%
September 25	100	5.26%
September 26	119.4	19.40%

In that same September 9 release, QMMM said that it is making a strategic entry into the cryptocurrency sector, citing the use of Artificial Intelligence and blockchain technology.

The trading suspension though, is temporary and will last till 11:59 PM Eastern Time on October 10. The regulator said that recommendations made by social media by "unknown persons" to buy the QMMM stock may have manipulated the share price, although it did not elaborate on when the posts were made.

Crypto treasury firms have grabbed eyeballs this year with some firms seeing sharp declines after seen one or two days of sharp upward moves. EightCo Holdings, which had surged to $45 from $1.5 in a single session, is now back to $11 within a three-week period.

The US SEC also suspended shares of Smart Digital Group till midnight of October 10, citing similar reasons. Smart Digital shares had plunged 86% last Friday after announcing that it will form a "diversified crypto asset pool."

(With Inputs From Agencies.)