Mikey,I understood which form of manipulation was being argued...

Mikey,

I understood which form of manipulation was being argued to have occurred, but used the "false and misleading information" definition to counter the logic of the claim (the other definitions are provided in the above URL).

But you hit the nail on the head as to what is really happening - people accumulated sizable positions on anticipation of an enormous wildcat discovery, and now that information is emerging that they interpret to be negative... they are trying to exit those positions in the absence of buyer liquidity.

Areo