SHF Holdings Inc (Safe Harbor Financial) (NASDAQ: SHFS) shares skyrocketed during Monday’s trading session, rising by over 87 per cent.
At first glance, the primary catalyst for the rapid spike appears to be a new partnership between the marijuana-focused financial firm and the cannabis industry financier FundCanna. Their agreement was announced Thursday.
“This partnership enables FundCanna to introduce clients to Safe Harbor; and Safe Harbor to introduce qualified clients to FundCanna for working capital, equipment financing and other credit-based solutions,” Safe Harbor specified in its news release regarding the collaboration.
Aside from this development, SHF’s immense market cap increase at the beginning of the week is rather mysterious. Also, social media showed that a financial scheme may be afoot.
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Something smells fishy here
A quick search revealed that several users on X wrote posts recommending the stock Monday with similar language.
“Today’s Hot Stock Recommendation $SHFS,” one wrote. “Good morning, my stock recommendation today is $SHFS” said another and “Recommended stock of the day: $SHFS” said one more.
Multiple other accounts, all with a modest number of followers and questionable legitimacy, posted recommendations with similar wording and no real explanation of why the stock was a worthwhile buy or why it had surged so much. They were likely targeted at traders seeking short-term gains.
“The nearly identical language, timing, and lack of detailed analysis suggest these could be coordinated efforts, possibly part of a pump-and-dump scheme or promotional campaign,” X AI bot Grok deduced. “Such schemes often involve hyping a stock to inflate its price artificially, allowing early promoters to sell at a profit while later investors face losses.”
Investors would be wise to exercise extreme caution with this one. Safe Harbor Financial currently has US$11 million in debt and a working capital deficit of approximately US$2.5 million.
“$SHFS appears to be the pump and dump of the day,” one stock market-oriented account commented.
$SHFS – low float pennstock spiking premarket on no legit news. Potential short to keep on watch today.
🤔Low float 23m, Low short interest percent under 1%, low institutional ownership at 8%. Not much cash on the books, with debt over 11m
👉👉Watch for break below key support… pic.twitter.com/lYUVjuTrur
— Trading Muse (@Trading_Muse) April 21, 2025
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