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TCRT Stock Explodes As Velaris Deal And $350M Cash Shift The Story

ELLIS HOBBS•UPDATED OCT. 16, 2026, 9:19 AM ET
Reviewed by Matt Monacoand Fact-checked by Bryce Tuohey

Alaunos Therapeutics Inc. stocks have been trading up by 28.44 percent amid heightened optimism over its latest oncology pipeline developments.

Key Takeaways

  • Alaunos Therapeutics completed the Velaris Therapeutics acquisition, adding ActRII‑Fc ligand traps and biologics for pulmonary arterial hypertension and related cardiopulmonary diseases.
  • The company secured about $350M in a concurrent private placement, expected to fund operations into 2029 and advance several drug candidates toward proof‑of‑concept and initial filings.
  • After the transaction and financing, TCRT shares ripped roughly 126% on massive volume as traders piled into the new story.
  • Another report pegged the same $350M Series C non‑voting convertible preferred stock raise as driving a roughly 225% surge in Alaunos shares, underscoring intense momentum trading.

Candlestick Chart

Live Update At 09:18:45 EDT: On Friday, October 16, 2026 Alaunos Therapeutics Inc. stock [NASDAQ: TCRT] is trending up by 28.44%! Discover the key drivers behind this movement as well as our expert analysis in the detailed breakdown below.

Quick Financial Overview

TCRT has been trading like a small‑cap biotech on steroids. In the daily chart, Alaunos Therapeutics went from sub‑$1 levels to a spike high above $4, closing most recently around the low‑$2s. That’s a wild range in just a few sessions and shows why traders love this kind of name: big reward potential, big risk.

The tape backs that up. On 2026/10/12, TCRT closed near $1.05. By 2026/10/13, on the Velaris news and $350M financing, it hit an intraday high above $4.30 before closing around $3.03. The next two days show classic post‑spike chop — gap up, fade, and intraday swings over 50% from low to high.

More Breaking News

Fundamentally, Alaunos Therapeutics is still early‑stage. Quarterly revenue sits around $5,000, while TCRT runs steep losses, with a pretax margin of roughly -3,300% and negative return on equity well below -100%. Cash was only $124,000 at the last report, and working capital was negative. That’s why the $350M cash pile matters so much. For traders, this is not a value play — it’s a story and momentum trade built around the new cardiopulmonary pipeline and extended runway.

Why Traders Are Watching TCRT Now

TCRT just rewrote its own script. Alaunos Therapeutics was a tiny, cash‑strapped biotech grinding through losses. Now, with the Velaris Therapeutics acquisition and a $350M private placement, the company looks like a completely different trading vehicle.

The Velaris deal gives Alaunos Therapeutics a fresh pipeline in pulmonary arterial hypertension and related cardiopulmonary diseases, including VLR199 and other ActRII‑Fc biologics. That’s a serious pivot for TCRT, shifting attention from survival to potential growth assets. For traders, that kind of story change is fuel. It creates a new narrative to trade: not “will they run out of cash?” but “how far can this new pipeline carry sentiment?”

The market reaction says a lot. One account shows TCRT ripping about 126% on the news. Another cites roughly a 225% move on extremely heavy volume tied to the same $350M Series C non‑voting convertible preferred stock raise. Either way, Alaunos Therapeutics went straight into high‑beta status. You had a low‑float biotech, fresh multi‑year funding to 2029, and a new disease area — that’s exactly the cocktail momentum traders hunt.

But there’s a flip side. The preferred stock structure signals potential future dilution, even if it also suggests institutional‑grade backing. After the initial spike, TCRT’s chart already shows the usual post‑parabolic behavior: big wicks, brutal intraday reversals, and wide trading ranges. Active traders watching Alaunos Therapeutics now need to treat it as an event‑driven name where news flow, filings, and any pipeline updates can move the stock dollars at a time, not cents.

Conclusion

TCRT has moved from quiet micro‑cap to front‑page momentum play almost overnight. Alaunos Therapeutics locked in the Velaris Therapeutics acquisition, bolted on a pipeline in pulmonary arterial hypertension, and raised $350M expected to carry operations into 2029 and drive multiple programs toward proof‑of‑concept. The market didn’t shrug — it lit up. We’re talking triple‑digit percentage gains and monster volume as traders discovered the new TCRT story.

At the same time, the core numbers remind everyone what this is. Alaunos Therapeutics still posts minimal revenue, heavy losses, and historically thin cash. The new capital and Series C preferred structure buy time and credibility, but they don’t erase execution risk or the chance of sharp drawdowns. The daily and intraday charts show exactly what Tim Sykes teaches about these spikers: big opportunity, bigger volatility if you chase without a plan. As millionaire penny stock trader and teacher Tim Sykes, says, “It’s not about how much money you make; it’s about how much money you keep.” In a name like TCRT, that mindset matters, because locking in profits and avoiding giving back gains can be just as important as catching the spike in the first place.

For traders studying TCRT, the setup is clear — a re‑rated biotech with a new pipeline, strong cash runway headlines, and a chart that rewards discipline and punishes hesitation. Or as Tim Sykes puts it, “The market rewards prepared traders, not hopeful gamblers.” Alaunos Therapeutics gives plenty of action right now, but the edge goes to those who respect the risk, track the news, and cut losses fast. This coverage is for educational and research purposes only, and every trader has to make their own decisions.

This is stock news, not investment advice. Timothy Sykes News delivers real-time stock market news focused on key catalysts driving short-term price movements. Our content is tailored for active traders and investors seeking to capitalize on rapid price fluctuations, particularly in volatile sectors like penny stocks. Readers come to us for detailed coverage on earnings reports, mergers, FDA approvals, new contracts, and unusual trading volumes that can trigger significant short-term price action. Some users utilize our news to explain sudden stock movements, while others rely on it for diligent research into potential investment opportunities.

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The available research on day trading suggests that most active traders lose money. Fees and overtrading are major contributors to these losses.

A 2000 study called “Trading is Hazardous to Your Wealth: The Common Stock Investment Performance of Individual Investors” evaluated 66,465 U.S. households that held stocks from 1991 to 1996. The households that traded most averaged an 11.4% annual return during a period where the overall market gained 17.9%. These lower returns were attributed to overconfidence.

A 2014 paper (revised 2019) titled “Learning Fast or Slow?” analyzed the complete transaction history of the Taiwan Stock Exchange between 1992 and 2006. It looked at the ongoing performance of day traders in this sample, and found that 97% of day traders can expect to lose money from trading, and more than 90% of all day trading volume can be traced to investors who predictably lose money. Additionally, it tied the behavior of gamblers and drivers who get more speeding tickets to overtrading, and cited studies showing that legalized gambling has an inverse effect on trading volume.

A 2019 research study (revised 2020) called “Day Trading for a Living?” observed 19,646 Brazilian futures contract traders who started day trading from 2013 to 2015, and recorded two years of their trading activity. The study authors found that 97% of traders with more than 300 days actively trading lost money, and only 1.1% earned more than the Brazilian minimum wage ($16 USD per day). They hypothesized that the greater returns shown in previous studies did not differentiate between frequent day traders and those who traded rarely, and that more frequent trading activity decreases the chance of profitability.

These studies show the wide variance of the available data on day trading profitability. One thing that seems clear from the research is that most day traders lose money .

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Citations for Disclaimer

Barber, Brad M. and Odean, Terrance, Trading is Hazardous to Your Wealth: The Common Stock Investment Performance of Individual Investors. Available at SSRN: “Day Trading for a Living?”

Barber, Brad M. and Lee, Yi-Tsung and Liu, Yu-Jane and Odean, Terrance and Zhang, Ke, Learning Fast or Slow? (May 28, 2019). Forthcoming: Review of Asset Pricing Studies, Available at SSRN: “https://ssrn.com/abstract=2535636”

Chague, Fernando and De-Losso, Rodrigo and Giovannetti, Bruno, Day Trading for a Living? (June 11, 2020). Available at SSRN: “https://ssrn.com/abstract=3423101”