ImmunityBio $IBRX ( ▲ 4.96% ) is back in full rip mode.
Shares surged again Tuesday, jumping more than 30% early in the session after flipping from red to green in dramatic fashion. Volume was insane too: within the first ~30 minutes of regular trading, over 46M shares had already traded, more than 3x the 20-day average pace for that point in the day.
This isn’t normal “biotech up on news” behavior.
This is squeeze behavior.
The squeeze is still on
Last week’s rally already put ImmunityBio on retail radar after a string of upbeat press releases.
Now it’s turned into a full momentum loop:
retail attention keeps rising
volume keeps exploding
shorts are forced to manage risk
price goes higher
rinse, repeat
That’s why the toothpaste analogy fits. Once this starts, it’s hard to reverse quickly.
What’s driving the latest move
ImmunityBio said the FDA asked for more information related to whether ANKTIVA can treat a broader type of bladder cancer.
But the key detail is the bullish one:
No new clinical trials are required.
Instead, management said they plan to submit the requested information within 30 days.
Translation: the regulatory path looks more like “paperwork + clarification” than “go spend 2 years and $100M running another trial.”
That’s exactly the kind of update that makes momentum traders push harder.
Zoom out: this move is already historic
Even after this latest surge, the bigger headline is the trend.
$IBRX is up nearly 200% in the past six sessions.
That kind of move pulls in every type of buyer:
squeeze hunters
biotech momentum traders
retail “lotto” flow
algos chasing volume
Bottom line
ImmunityBio isn’t trading like a biotech stock right now.
It’s trading like a short squeeze headline machine.
And Tuesday’s FDA update basically gave the bulls a fresh reason to keep pressing: ANKTIVA’s approval story might be expanding, and it may not need new trials to get there.