trinidad production , page-12

Go on then, how is it possible?

If I can place orders onto the order book as a private investor, and every other private investor can also place orders onto the order book, and I can freely sell or buy as many shares as I wish (which is the case with Range in the UK at the moment, which is where the vast majority of volume is), how can someone 'manipulate' the stock to keep it at a certain price? It's impossible. If I can name a price that I will buy or sell at, and every other private investor can, then it's certain larger institutions can also do the same.

With that in mind, if there were enough investors who would buy RRL stock, at, say, 14p, then 14p is what the price would be. I'm sure you all know this already, but the way the stock market works is that if there's more demand than supply for a share at a certain price level, it rises until demand equals supply, and vice versa. Otherwise the market makers (whose job it is to facilitate trades- NOT, as so incorrectly asserted without any evidence whatsoever, to shaft investors out of their profits) would quickly run out of shares to sell, and thus no trades could take place voa the market makers (which is blatently not the case, there are plenty of shares traded in Range every day on the AIM). This would mean any attempt at 'controlling' a share price would LOSE the 'controllers' money, as those responsible for facilitating trade make money whenever a trade is made, whether it's a buy or a sell- this is because there is a slight difference between the buy price and the sell price- and this different is where the market makers make their cash. If no one trades, they make no money.

Sure, I'll get called 'nieve' at this point for believing no such manipulation takes place. But the onus is on those who are making the accusation to provide the proof. So- where is the proof that what is happening currently with Range is anything other than normal market action? Hell, I'd settle for an explanation as to how it's even possible to 'manipulate' publically listed securities for starters, though even if a satisfactory explanation is provided (I can't see how an explanation WILL be provided, given that I think it's impossible), it certainly doesn't prove that it has happened here.

And no, pointing to a rapidly declining share price in a company doesn't prove manipulation at all, before someone tries it. A fact of life is shares can go up and down- and some go really, really far down (and some of course rocket upwards too!). There's plenty of company's out there trading below their net asset value besides Range. While I do think now is a good time to buy in based on proven reserves and the drill plans ahead, I can certainly see a good reason why we're at this price- and manipulation isn't it. It's to do with constantly missed deadlines and slow progress on the main assets, along with a super high cash burn rate and poor results in Georgia.