RLMD.O Surges 26.5%: No Fundamentals—Here’s What’s Really Driving the Move

Relmada Therapeutics (RLMD.O) made a stunning intraday move on May 24, rising 26.5% with no new fundamental news reported. The stock, with a market cap of around $33.5 million, saw a massive trading volume of over 12.9 million shares—an unusually high figure for a low-cap biotech name. Despite this, no technical signals such as head-and-shoulders, RSI oversold, or MACD crossovers were triggered, leaving the move unexplained by traditional chart patterns.

Order-Flow Clues: No Clear Buy Wall, But Activity Suggests Short Covering

Though there were no reported block trades or major order-flow clusters in the data, the sheer magnitude of the volume and the rapid price swing suggest significant short-covering or speculative positioning. With no bid/ask imbalance to speak of, the move appears to be driven by a wave of buy-side liquidity that overwhelmed the order book—possibly by retail traders or a small group of institutional actors reacting to a non-public catalyst.

Peer Stocks Move in Divergent Ways—No Sector Story

While RLMD.O soared, the broader market and related stocks showed mixed performance. Stocks like AAP and ALSN edged higher, but others like BEEM, ATXG, and AACG dropped sharply. The lack of a coherent theme across the sector rules out broader market rotation or sector-specific news as the cause of RLMD’s move. The only notable exception was AREB, which rose by 3.4%, but it’s unclear if this was connected.

Key Hypotheses: Short Squeeze or Illiquid Long Build

Given the data, two strong hypotheses emerge:

• Short Covering: The rapid 26.5% gain suggests a short squeeze. The high volume and the absence of a technical trigger support the idea that short sellers were forced to close positions, pushing the price higher.
• Speculative Long Build: A small group of traders or algorithms may have identified a low-liquidity setup and pushed the price in one direction, taking advantage of the limited depth in the bid-ask spread.

There is currently no evidence of a block trade, but the lack of order-flow visibility means we can’t rule out a coordinated long-side push.