Games They PlayHere is a list of them:
1) Premarket ASK manipulations. Manipulators load up the ask in the premarket to draw others into placing asks also at either the same or even lower ask price. They then withdraw there ask at the last minute and get other investors to do there dirty work or if they are interested in accumulating buy up the shares.
2) A campaign of outright lie's and misinformation on both the public chat forum's and news media. I think we all on this board know how that works by now. This falls under the category of dirty tricks.
3) Piggy backing asks. This works by a manipulator spotting a larger ask by a legit trader and proceeds to load up lots of shares behind it in order to make it appear that this is a real point of resistance. This can act like a cap on the stock price. The manipulators shares are protected by the initial sellers shares and in many cases this will cause other traders to pile on making the ask size even larger. In most cases other traders will then undercut the large ask thus once again doing the dirty work of the manipulator. If buying starts to overpower the asks then the manipulator has tie to rest or withdraw his ask. If enough asks pile up then once again if he his interested in accumulation he can take them all out.
4) Filling the spread. This works by a manipulator selling shares back to himself at a lower price. Anytime there is a spread between the bid and ask the manipulator closes that spread to the downside by selling usually 1 lot to himself. He loses no shares and is able to drop the share price while making it appear that there are a lot more willing sellers than there actually are. The larger the spread between the bid and ask the better for the manipulator. This is how the manipulators are able to take all the asks and then drop the price immediately again while the wait for the retailers to reload the asks. This falls into the dirty trick category and is illegal since it is or the express purpose of stock manipulation. This has been happening with even greater frequency lately as the float of shares out there that is willing to be traded gets lower and lower.
5) Taking out stop loses and forcing margin calls. I personally never recommend either. The MM have all this data and can use it against you. If an investor wishes to have a stop lost then he should keep it as a mental one or reevaluate the risk of the stock he is in. Margin calls can force you to sell when you do not wish to. One should also never risk money they cannot afford to lose, the pressure of being under this situation can lead to pore judgement.
6) Last minute selling pressure. This is designed to end the day on a negative note and if possible on a negative down tick. It can be psychologically disheartening and is designed to break momentum.
7) Breaking through or capping the price of a share at psychological trading points like the 9.00 price today and making sure it did not gain any momentum above the 8.50 mark. This is once again designed to dishearten investors and get them to sell.
8) Using ice berg sell orders. This is designed to cap a stock price and discourage any investors from trying to run the price of a share up. It tends to draw in more sellers because no one knows how committed the manipulator is to this position and how many bids it will take to remove this obstacle.
9) Dropping the price of a share by selling it down on very small lots. This is designed to drop a shares price while sacrificing and risking very few shares. The manipulator uses these 1 lot sells like a scout to determine points of resistance to his manipulation. He does not wish to try and drop the share price with a large at market sell because he may be ambushed with an iceberg bid that causes him to have sacrificed many shares with no effect. This can even have the opposite effect of what he has intended as it encourages the longs who then see strength hiding in the bushes.
All of these tricks can be used in reverse to manipulate a stock upwards also. .
10. "alter the price to suit the share cross". This scam involves running the price up or down in no uncertain terms depending on whether the cross price agreed to(in private) is higher or lower than the current SP.
Unlike the others which tend to be subtle, this one has big blinking red lights on it because the price suddenly spikes or plummets to bring the SP in line with the cross price. Its so obvious that after the cross happens, everyone realizes the reason for the sudden price change and proceed to move in quickly to fill the artificially created deviation from where the "free market" price would otherwise be.
This is an important one because big dollars are involved. The parties involved don’t mind filling bids or asks of other market participants whose orders 'are in the way' because the value of the cross makes it worth their while to do so.