You’ve really got to wonder who actually knows the positions and...

You’ve really got to wonder who actually knows the positions and volumes of stops…. This data would provide massive advantage to a trading entity afaict, and I suspect that the Chinese walls that are supposedly in place to “separate” various sides are riddled with holes.
Actually, even the knowledge gained after years of monitoring price+volume action over thousands of stocks would provide a pretty handy indication of the likely price and volume of stops, at least enough to build a solid probabilistic model, imo!

All very interesting, indeed!