RE:RE:RE:cant hold upI think the simple answer is that Mr Stevens, like most people, somewhat speculating when he says that it looks like we've chewed through the PP shares. They've only been off hold since Mar 21 and I think it's fairly unlikely that all 57 million shares involved in the PP have changed hands since March 21. Even if we exclude the 15 million shares that are "tightly held" in his estimation (insiders, long term supporters, etc) I don't think that 42 million PP share have been sold in the past 6 trading days. Yes, various short-based hedging has also probably occurred. Yes, 65M is a lot of shares traded.
However, this is a volatile penny stock and there are also sorts of wanna-be traders and speculators of all kinds out there. There is a steady flow of news from the company so the company is on a lot of trader's radars. I think it's fair to assume that a good part of the volume is also normal trading activity, penny flipping, day trading, swing trading, etc, etc. The stock is cheap so the entry level isn't high.
I feel Jeff's comments definitely have some merit and he's probably right that those who were itching to get out or to execute various shorting/hedging strategies have been a big chunk of the activity this month. However, it takes a while to dump 40 million+ shares on the market and to cover large short positions without causing too much of a price spike. Some of Jeff's comments may also be wishful thinking because there is a bit of a PR war going on here too as the company tries to combat the shorting and other negative market drama by "keeping it real" with ongoing news to put things in perspective. Insiders hold fairly large stakes here and I'm sure the onslaught of selling is nerve racking for them too.
I do think we'll see a good sized decline in short positions on the next couple of reports and that things are steadying. I wouldn't be surprised to see a bit of a price jump even in afternoon trading today because there is a risk of holding the short positions a little too long here...
PS: BTW I do think it's a valid thing for you to call this point out with your post. It's not a good thing if people are drinking any of the various kool-aid that's out there too quickly without thinking about it. It's never that black-and-white.