RE:Manipulation question Hi Josh. Great question, and one I'm sure many small cap investors have looked into lately...
There are many ways share prices can be manipulated down (or up). The two most common methods to push share prices down that I've seen occurring in my small cap investments are as follows... the second one relates more to MTRX.VN at this time in my view.
1) Shorters or "poop scoopers" mislead other investors about elements of a company or stock, which gives a negative perception about a company outlook. This increases selling of the stock and pushes the share price down. Of course this benefits the shorters who are looking to return their shares at a lower price, and benefits the poop scoopers who are looking to pick up a shares at an unneccessary discount and make profit on the recovery.
2) Manipulators push the share price down with hundreds of small orders at a lower price than it was trading recently. I think this has been occurring with MTRX.VN and it occurred with PYR.TO a few months ago as well. Ultimately all the orders at the low bid price give investors a negative perception which increases selling, thus reducing the share price as they sell into those low ball bids usually because the investor is under the impression something is wrong.
Hope this helps. I would not worry about Loop for now... I've added more on pretty much any swing sub $1.50. 2021 will bring in a lot of revenues for Loop and share price growth is inevitible in my view. GLTA!