Trapped Buyers Attempt To Flee Aquinox Pharmaceuticals

Joel Elconin is the co-host of Benzinga's #PreMarket Prep, a daily trading idea radio show.

Aquinox Pharmaceuticals Inc AQXP shares were trading lower by $2 at $16.88 in Tuesday's session. One day after the world was convinced the company had found a new cure for interstitial cystitis and ran the issue to $55.79 from last Thursday's close ($1.79), trapped buyers are attempting to exit unscathed.

However, the fierce rally off the sharply higher open ($28 vs. Monday's close of $18.88) was capped at $30 within the first few minutes of the day. When the trapped buyers could not exit on strength, they began to sell relentlessly into a thinly bid market.

As a result, the issue at one point in the session had declined nearly 50 percent from its intra-day peak ($30) when it swooned to $15.51. A brief rally to $18 ensued before it began to drift lower. So far, it has not made a new low for the day but has been consolidating at the $17 level.