6. “Sell this, buy that.”
Fake users on message boards are always trying to mess with you. These people can be bots or paid trolls employed by hedge funds or banks.
In the case of a buyout, their goal is to get you to sell. They do this in many ways, but the “Sell this, buy that,” technique is quite common.
They’ll say something like, “I’m so glad I sold $XYZ1 and bought $ABC2.”
Or, “This stock is garbage, I sold it and made my loss back with $ABC2.”
Their goal is to funnel you into something else.
7. Bizarre price action prior to upcoming milestones.
8. Resignations by high-level management or board members.
In a vacuum, the resignation of key members of a company can be seen as a bad thing.
But, if you believe that your company is planning to merge, or has secretly already agreed to merge, and the announcement might not be for several months, then the resignation of key employees can be seen as bullish.
This is true if you think the employee who resigned would know about the merger, and might also be redundant in the new company.