ManipulationThis is not done by shorting. It is done through coordination between two operators or more. You can easily see this on a platform showing who is buying and selling for every trade.
For a long time this morning the market had a lonely offer at 13 cents: Disnat for 500 shares. At 11:32 a trade for 4500 shares took place, Virtu ITG selling 4500 shares to Anonymous at 13 cents. How is this possible while Disnat had priority but still stands alone offering 13 cents? Why is it that Virtu ITG only sold 4500 and not 5000, the exact amount Anonymous was looking for?
The only way is that Anonymous (not sure why such Anonymity is allowed) is in fact a Virtu ITG account by another name, in synch with this selling Virtu ITG account. Too bad for the Disnat guy. No doubt Anonymous might sell back those shares to Virtu ITG at some point today or another day, keeping trading on this stock in check. The Disnat guy might have to pay more (13.5 cents) for accessing shares. This is how some think it is possible to milk the market.
But the market also saw fresh buying from Merrill Lynch and Scotia at 13.5 cents, which is very encouraging.