RE: Manipulation again
Exactly.... a trader will often post Big Blocks of stock "behind" the market. So if you were to look at depth of market behind the inside offered price you'ld see there's 14,600 for sale at $1.70, 3000 @ 1.74 etc...
The point I made previously is that individual traders use flags or signatures in their manipulation. In the case of Dundee, the trader always posts 14,600 shares.
The intent is to make the market look like there's more sellers than there really is. Ironically, many traders will use this technique to actually accumulate shares because it causes smaller retail guys to sell into the bid. By the same token, it causes buyers to sit back and see what happens.
If you're short and you have a big axe to grind, you very well may actively "work" the market lower as I am speculating we're seeing here. An aggressive trader will actually aggressively sell a large position to establish a good sized short... typically into news and the associated volume. Then they'll save anywhere from 10 to 50 thousand shares to work the market down from there short price... In a small stock with relatively low volume and without meaningful institutional support, this is alot easier than you might think. Then you put up a big offer behind the market and work the offer lower and lower with small "inside" offer quantities. This is precisely the kind of action we have seen.
I dont really know to comment on Morgan Stanley... although it does tie in with the speculation of a US Hedge fund playing us on the short side. I know there's a lot of speculation here and conspiracy theory but this stuff goes on all the time in the background. People make (and lose) alot of money doing this kind of thing.
The irony is I think we know this story better than most institutions and analysts and I flat think they've got it wrong this time around....