Hi Brettdale and Aussie,You guys are free to hold those views....

Hi Brettdale and Aussie,

You guys are free to hold those views. Time will tell.

I don't know whether you or any others have noticed the trading pattern toward the end of last week, especially Friday.

What I noted was someone buying parcels at one price and then instantly selling a smaller parcel into a lower price, often 2 points DOWN. The result of this was that to the OBSERVATION OF TRADERS the last sale was always appearing lower.

Here is an example of a two point difference between BUY and SELL. I'll identify the manipulator as M

Buy - 100,000 @ 8.6 Sell - 150,000 @ 8.8

Then someone decides to sell 50,000 @ 8.7, so we have a screen like this:


Buy - 100,000 @ 8.6 Sell - 50,000 @ 8.7
-150,000 @ 8.8

M now BUYS THE 50K @ 8.7. BUT INSTANTLY DOES A SECOND TRADE:
He SELLS 10,000 AT 8.6. The screen is now like this:

Buy - 90,000 @ 8.6 Sell - 150,000 @ 8.8

And on screen? "LAST TRADE 8.6"

This went on much of the last half of the week. ESPECIALLY ON FRIDAY.

The result imo was a steady chipping away at the price, leaving an ever lower "last trade" on screen.

But then just before close, M buys up the available shares between the low and the close of the previous day. Leaving a level close after having pushed the price in both directions and accumulated a million or two along the way.

Anyway, that is based on my observation. Not sure if others noted it or not.

Cheers