Every year, there is a handful of stocks that do the impossible.
They don't just go up 10% or 20%. They go up 1,000% or 10,000%. They turn a $1,000 lunch money bet into a house down payment.
In 2025, we saw the usual suspects: huge tech companies grinding higher. But the real money was made in the gutter—in the penny stocks, the bankrupt companies, and the forgotten micro-caps that Wall Street left for dead.
While we can't list every single ticker (check your screener for the full list), we identified the 10 specific types of trades that created millionaires this year.
Here is the 2025 "Hall of Fame" of volatility.
1. The "Dissolution" Play (Example: NBY)
- The Story: A company announces it is closing its doors and selling off assets. The stock crashes to pennies.
- The Explosion: Suddenly, traders realize the cash on hand is worth more than the stock price.
- The Lesson: Sometimes, a company is worth more dead than alive. (See our full review on NovaBay).
2. The "FDA Approval" Lotto Ticket
- The Story: A tiny biotech company with one drug in Phase 3 trials. They have $0 revenue and are burning cash.
- The Explosion: The FDA stamps "Approved." The stock gaps up 400% overnight as Big Pharma rushes to buy them out.
- The Lesson: Biotech is binary. It’s either a zero or a hero.
3. The "Zombie" Short Squeeze
- The Story: A retailer or legacy company files for Chapter 11 bankruptcy. Hedge funds short it into oblivion.
- The Explosion: A "Meme Stock" army notices the high short interest and buys in bulk. The hedge funds panic-buy to cover their positions, sending the price vertical.
- The Lesson: Never underestimate the power of a crowded exit door.
4. The "Crypto Proxy" Miner
- The Story: Bitcoin goes on a run. But instead of buying Bitcoin, traders look for "High Beta" proxies—tiny crypto mining companies with cheap shares.
- The Explosion: When BTC moves 10%, these penny stocks move 50%.
- The Lesson: In a crypto bull run, the "picks and shovels" (miners) often outperform the gold (Bitcoin).
5. The "Reverse Split" Survivor
- The Story: A stock drops below $1.00 and faces delisting. They do a "1-for-20" reverse split to artificially boost the price. Usually, this is a death sentence.
- The Explosion: Occasionally, the lower "float" (supply of shares) makes the stock incredibly volatile. One piece of good news sends it soaring because there are no shares left to sell.
- The Lesson: Low float = High volatility.
6. The "AI Supply Chain" Microcap
- The Story: Everyone owns Nvidia. But savvy traders look for the tiny company that makes the cooling fans or the copper cables for the AI data centers.
- The Explosion: A rumor drops that they signed a contract with a major tech giant.
- The Lesson: The biggest gains are often in the boring parts of the supply chain.
7. The "Insider Buy" Signal
- The Story: A stock has been falling for months. Suddenly, the CEO and CFO both buy $1 million worth of shares on the open market.
- The Explosion: The market realizes management knows something good is coming.
- The Lesson: Follow the money. Insiders sell for many reasons, but they only buy for one.
8. The "Sympathy" Play
- The Story: A major company (Company A) skyrockets on news. Traders frantically look for "Company B"—a competitor in the same sector that hasn't moved yet.
- The Explosion: Capital rotates from the winner into the laggard to catch the "sympathy" move.
- The Lesson: If you miss the first train, catch the second one.
9. The "Acquisition" Rumor
- The Story: A mid-sized tech company is struggling. A rumor leaks on Twitter/X that they hired advisors to explore a sale.
- The Explosion: Arbitrage traders rush in, betting on a premium buyout price.
- The Lesson: Where there is smoke, there is often fire (or at least a tradeable bounce).
10. The "Oversold" Bounce
- The Story: A perfectly good company misses earnings by a penny. The algorithm bots panic-sell, dropping the stock 40% in an hour.
- The Explosion: Humans step in, realize the reaction was overblown, and buy the dip for a "Dead Cat Bounce."
- The Lesson: Algorithms have no nuance. Use their panic to your advantage.
The Bottom Line
Most of these 100x winners had one thing in common: Everyone hated them right before they exploded.
If you want to find the next 100-bagger in 2026, you won't find it on the "Top Gainers" list—you'll find it in the dumpster, waiting for a catalyst.
