U.S. Stocks Can Jump Even 100% in a Single Day; Here’s Why

When Indian investors talk about stock market volatility, the first thing that often comes to mind is “circuit limits.” In India, SEBI has placed daily upper and lower price bands of 5%, 10%, or 20% to ensure that no stock can swing beyond a certain threshold in one trading session. The idea is simple: prevent panic, protect retail investors, and maintain more orderly trading.

But cross over to the United States, and the picture is very different. In the U.S. markets, a stock can, in theory, rise 100% or more in a single trading day. There are checks and balances to keep things orderly, but there is no hard cap like in India. That’s why headlines about stocks “doubling in hours” or “soaring overnight” are not unusual on Wall Street.

Let’s break down with this blog what makes such extreme single-day jumps possible: how the rules work (or rather, what limits don’t exist), real examples showing such gains, and what Indian investors should keep in mind.

Can U.S. Stocks Rise Even 100% in a day?

Here are some real-world Examples of significantly big single-day moves in the U.S. stocks, and what triggered them:

• GameStop (GME): In January 2021, shares of the gaming retailer surged more than 100% in a single session, fueled by a Reddit-driven short squeeze that caught hedge funds off guard.
• Oracle (ORCL): the stock jumped ~50% intraday on September 10, 2025, its best one-day performance since 1992. The surge was driven by large cloud contracts including a massive deal with OpenAI, and investor excitement around its AI infrastructure business.
• Opendoor Technologies (OPEN): Shares soared ~80% in a day on September 11, 2025, after leadership changes were announced: new CEO (former Shopify executive Kaz Nejatian) and co-founders returning to the board.
• Moderna (MRNA): Back in 2020, the biotech company doubled within a single day after announcing early positive vaccine trial results, showing how critical news can instantly reprice expectations.

Source: Reuters

Why no circuit breakers in U.S. markets? What Rules Apply in the U.S.?

Unlike India’s fixed daily circuit filters, U.S. stock markets do not impose rigid upper or lower limits on how much a stock can move in a day. Instead, there are:

• The Limit Up-Limit Down (LULD) rule: Unlike India’s daily circuit filters, U.S. markets operate under what’s known as the Limit Up-Limit Down (LULD) rule, introduced after the 2010 Flash Crash. This system prevents stocks from trading outside a defined price band, usually around 5-10% above or below the stock’s average price over the last five minutes. If the stock hits that band, trading pauses for a short period (typically 5 minutes) before resuming.
• Market-wide circuit breakers: These apply to indices like the S&P 500. If the index drops by 7%, 13%, or 20% in a day, trading halts (for a short or longer period depending on the level breached). These are designed to prevent cascading panic during broad market drops.

Let’s break this down with a simple analogy. Think of it like traffic on highways:

• India’s market circuits are like speed limiters built into cars, you can’t go above a set speed, no matter how good the engine.
• The U.S. structure is more like having no fixed speed limit on some stretches, but there are speed cameras (LULD) that will force you to slow down if you go too fast relative to recent average speed; there are also emergency stop signals (market-wide circuit breakers) if conditions on the whole road become dangerous (e.g. heavy fog, traffic jam, etc.).

So while drivers (stocks) can fly, there are mechanisms to prevent complete chaos.

What It Means for Investors Looking to Invest in U.S. Stocks?

For Indians who are confident of their stock-picking skills, the U.S. market’s open structure can be both exciting and rewarding. While stocks in India can only move within narrow bands, U.S. equities give full play to momentum, whether that comes from breakthrough innovations, earnings surprises, or viral investor enthusiasm.

If you’re investing in the U.S. equities, you can get access to these kinds of opportunities. However, the absence of upper/lower daily caps means volatility can cut both ways: big gains are possible, but so are sharp losses. Also, there might be compliance, taxation, or regulatory (currency, remittances etc.) considerations that differ depending on your domicile, so always check with a financial advisor or tax expert.

Additional Evergreen Tips & Lessons

• Watch key catalysts: earnings surprises, big contracts, CEO or board changes, regulatory approvals. As we saw with Oracle (AI deal) and Opendoor (leadership shift), these are often triggers.
• Liquidity & short interest: low liquidity stocks with high short interest can swing violently. But these move as much on psychology as fundamentals.
• Risk management: set stop-losses, don’t put too large a portion of capital into hyper-volatile bets, expect reversals.

One-day explosions in stock prices might seem wild, and well they are, but they’re baked into how flexible and open the U.S. equity markets are. Without fixed ceilings on gains or losses, with rules like LULD to manage chaos but not choke upside, these moves are possible.

For Indian investors, this is a chance: to think bigger, act globally, and maybe catch big trends that don’t show up in markets with tighter controls. But it’s also a reminder: with great upside comes great risk. Be informed, stay vigilant, and enjoy the ride.

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