champagne corks are popping, page-16

Dyno et al

I too have around 20yrs experience trading shares. In nearly every stock I have been associated with (and that is quite a few)the same stories of shareprice manipulation have been bandied around. Yes it does occur on occasions, usually like you say, hwere there is derivative trading in association with the fully paids. In theory it is possible to sell down the shareprice in order to trip stop-loss orders, which in turn can create a multiplier effect and force the shareprice down. This requires some very sophisticated and risky strategies. Like I said this usually involves taking a loss on the share in order to make big on derivatives trading. It rarely (if ever) involves pure trading in the full paids themselves as it requires the seller to pick up at least as many shares at a lower price to thqat which he has sold down on. This is very risky with very limited likelihood of success especially where the stock is on an upward trend. Think about how many people there are waiting for the stock to drop in order to pick up more. If a big holder attempts to sell his stock in order to force the price down, he then has to compete with all the others to try and buy back at a cheaper price. This simply doesn't make sense and is very risky.