RE:Fooled by RandomnessUrsus,
It's true that in a highly liquid equity market like Amazon or Apple, it would be nearly impossible to dominate price action for more than a few minutes. That's not true in the thinly traded markets where IVN trades. For as little as $10 million CAD a day, or even less, a single trader or group would have no trouble dominating the entire price action. And you are correct that buyers will eventually step in when they perceive value. Unfortunately with TSX mining stocks, you might have to wait a long time for that to happen. In IVN's case $2.75 seemed to be the pivot where buyers felt reasonably safe to step in. Mining stocks don't trade like commodities. As price falls, potential buyers don't see opportunity, they smell trouble, and avoid exploration stocks like the plague.
By saying market manipulation is impossible for any extended period of time, you're actually providing the sanction of the victim. It's one thing to get robbed. It's another to turn a blind eye and pretend it isn't happening. And people turn a blind eye all the time. That's why predators of all stripes get away with what they do. People are too afraid to confront them. It's outside their comfort zone. We see this all the time in every aspect of life, not just with stocks.
Could the price action simply be random? Perhaps, that's why as the price came under increasing pressure in December, I didn't bring up the topic. It could easily have been tax loss selling. Someone(s) buying at $5, and taking a loss. When the pressure continued unabated on Jan 2, I knew that wasn't the cause. Selling pressure was relentless, week after week, for two and a half months. Yet this wasn't reflected by the official bimonthly short report. 1.6% of shares out is a very modest short position. And trading itself was unusual. 100 share lots, often from CIBC trading every 30 seconds or so, in a regular pattern, regardless of demand. This also went on for many weeks. Every uptick would instantaneously get hammered by a down tick, driving share price lower and lower. Share price was being irresistibly dragged into a black hole. Meanwhile, some posters are saying all this is normal.
It's just paranoia, unless someone is really trying to kill you. I know of at least one person a decade ago who colluded as part of a group to influence stocks on the NASDAQ and Venture. So don't tell me this is impossible. A few others here have mentioned similar experiences.
There is a reason I'm shining a red hot spotlight on this. It's more comfortable to break the rules in the dark.