RE:RE:Consider thisOn a stock like this, most people who hit the Ask do so with the objective of taking it out, or at the very least, contributing towards that end. This, in theory, helps move the share price higher and increases the value of their own investment, presuming there is sustained volume to keep moving up. The problem is, when the news cycle is dry, so is our volume. This is an opportunity for people to pull stunts like this.
Suppose I am a prospective buyer of shares. If, relative to the average volume, there is a giant wall up waiting to be sold, what is incentivizing me to buy shares at that price if I can't count on any sustained volume to potentially break it? No one else is going to chip in, and I am not willing to invest enough to take the wall out, so the price of that wall acts as the de-facto "max price," barring news. As a prospective buyer, my options in this case are to either play "hero ball" and fight the wall by myself, pay this "max price" set by the wall, or send an order for a lower price and be patient.
The party who keeps repeatedly doing this follows the same pattern every time. They know that the chances of someone taking out their order are slim-to-none. There just isn't enough volume, so they can comfortably put that wall up knowing that the "risked" shares are safe and they achieve the goal of capping the price. Liquidity is a heck of a thing. When you can count on there being no volume, it's not that difficult. Based on my observations, TMG usually releases material news outside of market hours, giving our hero plenty of time to pull their order without consequence.
The one, and I mean one, exception to this was that interesting day on December 23, 2021. That wall was taken out and we shot from $0.13 to $0.18 on no news and all we really had to do was take out that one order. I also recall a particular user being very, very angry on here that day.
My ultimate point is that on a stock that trades consistent volumes that are not negligible, this cannot happen. Something needs to happen to garner attention and volume, or we're going to be subject to this tomfoolery for the foreseeable future.
JMO