What Volume Looks Like When Earnings Cross: 454.67x Normal, Measured
Five earnings prints this season carried a volume baseline clean enough to verify. The largest ran at hundreds of times normal.
- Walmart traded 454.67x its normal window volume in the fifteen minutes after its print.
- Only 5 of 45 measured prints carried a baseline clean enough to publish.
- Median verified ratio: 231.75x normal.
When Walmart's earnings crossed on 20 August 2026, the stock traded 454.67x its normal volume for that window in the fifteen minutes that followed. That is the largest verified volume ratio we measured this earnings season — and one of only 5 prints, out of 45 we measured, where the volume baseline was clean enough to publish a ratio at all.
Every ratio that survived validation
| Company | 15-min volume vs normal | 15-min move | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Walmart (WMT) | 20 August 2026, 11:00 UTC | 454.67x | -7.45% |
| Datadog (DDOG) | 6 August 2026, 11:00 UTC | 417.45x | -21.19% |
| Vertiv (VRT) | 29 July 2026, 09:55 UTC | 231.75x | -8.14% |
| Qualcomm (QCOM) | 29 July 2026, 20:00 UTC | 42.31x | -3.72% |
| Pfizer (PFE) | 4 August 2026, 10:45 UTC | 27.78x | 0.64% |
The median across these five is 231.75x normal. The scale matters because volume is what separates a reprice from a drift: a -7.45% move on 454.67x volume, as Walmart printed, is the market processing new information at maximum speed, with enough shares changing hands that the new price carries conviction.
Why only five ratios
Most earnings cross before the regular session opens, when the comparison baseline — what this name normally trades in that window — is thin and unstable. Our pipeline validates the baseline before it publishes a ratio, and a ratio that fails validation is discarded rather than shown. 40 of the 45 prints we measured this season failed that check. Publishing five verified numbers over forty fabricated ones is the trade we make everywhere on this site: the number you see is one we can stand behind.
How these numbers were measured
Every reaction figure on this page is MoveSurge's own measurement: the price captured at the instant each headline crossed our tape, then one and fifteen minutes later, with traded volume compared against the same window's norm for that name. None of it is quoted from another outlet's account of the move. The pipeline that takes these measurements is described on our editorial standards page.
What is the highest earnings-day volume ratio measured this season?
Walmart at 454.67x its normal volume for the window, in the fifteen minutes after its earnings print on 20 August 2026, alongside a -7.45% price move.
What counts as unusual volume after an earnings print?
Among the five prints with a verified baseline this season, the median was 231.75x normal for the window. All five exceeded 10x.
Why do most earnings prints have no published volume ratio?
Because most cross premarket, where the baseline is too thin to validate. A ratio whose baseline fails validation is discarded, so every published ratio is one the measurement supports.
Sources
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Walmart (WMT) Q2 2027 earnings - CNBC
Walmart reported Q2 FY27 results on 20 August 2026: revenue $187.9bn up 5.9%, adjusted EPS $0.81 versus roughly $0.74 expected; the full-year adjusted EPS outlook of $2.80-$2.87 sat below the roughly $2.90 consensus.
-
Qualcomm (QCOM) earnings report Q3 2026 - CNBC
Qualcomm reported fiscal Q3 2026 results on 29 July 2026: revenue $9.95bn down 4%, net income $2bn or $1.87 per diluted share down 25%, handset chip revenue down 20%, and record automotive revenue up 61%.
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