Something rather strange is happening with the BrainChip Holdings Ltd (ASX: BRN) share price in the ASX today.
It's been a pretty decent start for the All Ordinaries Index (ASX: XAO) and most All Ords shares this Monday. At the time of writing, the All Ords has gained a rosy 0.45% and is back over 7,170 points. But the Brainchip share price is doing something rather unusual.
Branchip shares closed at 15 cents each last Friday evening. But today, the ASX artificial intelligence (AI) share opened at 16 cents before rocketing all the way up to 17.5 cents a share, where it is currently sitting. That's a gain worth a whopping 16.67%.
So what's going on with this small-cap ASX AI stock today that has elicited such an explosive push higher from investors?
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What's up with the Brainchip share price this Monday?
Well, it's a darn-tootin' mystery, to put it bluntly.
It's not obvious at all why Brainchip shares are surging so enthusiastically today. The company has put out a couple of non-price-sensitive ASX announcements for investors to sign.
But with one of these being a routine 'application for quotation of securities' in relation to Brainchip's employee share plan, and the other a cleansing notice, both of these announcements don't seem to have anything to do with Brainchip's leap higher.
So perhaps this huge share price jump for Brainchip is the result of a large buyer picking up a big tranche of shares.
The Brainchip share price has been in freefall for over a year now. Back in early 2022, this AI stock was going for above $1.70 a share. But ever since, it has been on an almost uninterrupted slide lower. In 2023 alone, Brainchip shares have fallen by almost 77%, dropping from 75 cents each to the 17-cent levels we see today.
Over the past 12 months, those losses extend to above 80%, as you can see below:
Thus, it's entirely possible that some big investing fish decided that Brainchip shares now look too cheap to ignore, and picked up a sizeable chunk of the company, pushing up its share price dramatically in the process. In the absence of any other news out of Brainchip, we'll have to assume the stock's moves this Monday are the result of this possible scenario, or at least something similar.
No doubt Branchip's long-suffering shareholders will welcome today's market moves with open arms. But let's see what happens for this ASX All Ords stock going forwards.
