Yeah look you make some good points, and the Gamestop fiasco is likely to be a case study for years to come. As you’ve probably seen in the past (and SPL is obviously not an isolated case), a large buy order in the hundreds and thousands is placed on bid well above the previous days closing price in the morning pre-market, only for the bid to be withdrawn just before open. This can only have the intent to manipulate and influence the price higher not in line with the proper market. So it does work both ways. But I do agree that overall manipulation is skewed to the down side, capping and shorting. Funnily enough, I think it was the Hawke Government in Australia that changed the tax laws so that when institutions lend out stock for others to short by way of various contracts and instruments, it is not considered ‘disposing’ of the shares and therefore triggering a tax event like it was previously. That was the start of the slippery slope and growth curve in shorting IMO.
