u/Accurate_Swim_7035

I short low-float, high-relative-volume runners in premarket only (4 AM–9:30 AM ET). Over the past year I’ve developed a system that’s been fairly consistent, but recently I’ve witnessed a few terrifying moves:

• one stock wicked from ~$0.53 to $23 within one minute
• another went from around $3 to $64 on a single one-minute candle

Both collapsed back down quickly afterward, but either move would have completely destroyed a heavily sized short position.

This has made me seriously question long-term survivability/scaling in this niche.

For traders experienced with premarket low-float shorts:

1. Are these “teleport” squeezes just accepted occupational hazards in this niche?
2. In a real event like this, do traders actually have time to manually exit, or do stops/hotkeys become mostly useless due to liquidity gaps?
3. Do experienced short sellers mainly survive by keeping size very small, or by completely avoiding certain ticker profiles/time windows?
4. Are there certain setups/categories that you absolutely refuse to short because of this exact risk?

Thanks in advance for any experience/advice you might be able to share.