Truthfully, If you would like to see for yourselfLook at the trade history for XBC showing on TMX Money. You will see Xebec trading comfortably back and forth between houses around $7.65 at the close, with one small trade at $7.68.
Cannacord hit the market with a sell order for 20,500 shares right at the bell. I had earlier mistakenly suggested it was 10,500 shares.
Over the few seconds while the Cannacord order was being filled at the close, National Bank sold 100, CIBC sold 300, and BMO sold 100. That's it.
The move on Friday came after an hour and a half of relatively directionless trading, and started at exactly 12 noon. In fact, if you look at a one-day chart at one minute intervals, you will see that the stock was trading at $7.38 at 11:59, up 9 cents on the day. By 12:30, the stock was up to $7.65. By 1:30, the stock was at $7.80, and 44 minutes later it peaked at $8.09. The stock was actually accelerating.
After peaking at $8.09 the stock drifted steadilly lower on profit taking and uneventful trading towards the close, and was trading smack in the middle of the daily range at 3:30pm. I thought this was a perfect setup for a strong close, but the market dissapointed me and then the Cannacord order hit the floor.
What you saw on Friday was a classic example of a melt-up. Clearly the market developed a more informed opinion of the relevance of the news as the morning progressed. Once the stock started moving, potential buyers who wre still on the sidelines came in, afraid to miss the boat. The rally fed on itself, as I suggested it would.
Friday's trading was hugely important tecnically. It cleared out a large swath of overhead supply, and made convincing new highs on volume, which will trigger algorithms that will manifest themselves on Monday . It gave you an inkling of what this stock can and will do many times over in the future. Quite possibly the very near future.
I believe that this stock has the potential to go vertical . It bears all the hallmarks of it.