Ann: Response to Speculation, page-383

Think about it. What would have happened to the closing price yesterday if 10 million shares got bought and there was no selling? Share price would have been over 50c.

So the tactic is usually to short sell a bunch of shares to match the buys and keep the price at a reasonable level 40c and then they can unwind the shorts over the next couple weeks by buying regular supply and cover their shorts around 44c or even a little higher. Comes at a cheaper total cost than buying 10m at 50c.

For an example of where this didn't happen look at AVZ yesterday. 40m+ shares traded in the auction and nowhere near the level of sell low enough. Was trading at around 26.5-27c and then the auction matched at 30c, massive artificial close. So in that case I flipped my shares because in my opinion I expect it to drop back next week.