GPP BOTS most likely originate from Goldman Sachs

I'm surprised no one has picked it up so decided to create a seperate thread regarding the more than likely identity of our BOT Controller for the last 2 months or so looking at the data provided by @jaytrader (Many Thanks!)
https://hotcopper.com.au/posts/24818331/single

SHAME on you GOLDMAN SACHS
And GPP seems like it is not the only company - I'm just in the process of researching other companies where this sort of attach has been occurring (I recollect looking at various companies where there was simultaneous attacks)

You can see the below data for about the last 2 months and the ridiculously high amount of trades, this is absurd for a broker to conduct so many trades and leads that the evidence is pretty damning.

	Column 1	Column 2	Column 3	Column 4	Column 5
0	Date	Total Volume	Number of Trades	Average Number of Shares per Trade
1	1/3/2017 - 15/3/2017	435307	276	1578
2	1/4/2017-15/3/2017	36199	479	76
3	16/4/2017-30/4/2017	136679	521	262	all sells
4	1/5/2017-15/5/2017	88195	146	604	all sells

Now for the reasons WHY a BOT is used is up for debate - I am just an investor and find this whole concept very interesting. There could be a few theories behind it, some of which may be complex to the average mum and dad investor

I received a very nice email from a friend who wants to remain anonymous (much credit to you mate!) regarding the reasons behind the running of the bots which I have attached the contents below.

Initially I thought bots were largely to manipulate the price up or down to trigger stop losses. This makes sense. I've seen this on numerous stocks.
( There's also a possibility that the bots are used to manipulate chart patterns, however that seems less likely. )

While bots are used to trigger stop losses, that doesn't fit with all of the bot behavior I have witnessed.
It would make sense to sell down a pip to trigger stop losses. It does not make sense to keep selling into the buy queue once they've triggered stop losses.

( You could argue that this behavior is to create the illusion of volume - adding time pressure to panicky shareholders - but this also seems unlikely. )

What is far more likely and makes the most sense is that the bots are probing for orders in dark pools.

"There are predatory traders out there that are constantly probing in the dark, trying to detect the presence of a big submarine coming through. And the job of the algorithmic trader is to make that submarine as stealth as possible."

https://www.wired.com/2010/12/ff_ai_flashtrading/


Traditionally, I thought that a one-pip sell-down for a tiny number of shares was to trigger stop losses - and in some cases that's probably true - but lets run with the dark pool theory.

If these transactions are bots probing for dark pools, then the sell transactions shortly after a tiny sell order are not a result of stop losses, they're the bot owner identifying that no hidden buy orders are in place.

If the owner identifies no hidden buy orders, they may then sell into the buy queue at that price, and sell down a pip again. The owner then repeats this process until they identify hidden buy orders. At this point the bot owner knows the buy-in price of the dark pool participants, and can act accordingly, which would probably mean buying at that price.

The inverse would also be true. When tiny buy orders are executed, the bot owner would be looking for dark pool sell orders. Upon identifying a hidden sell order, the bot owner would know that the dark pool participants are looking to exit, and could sell out themselves.
This theory makes sense to me.

These articles may also be of interest to you:

https://www.twobirds.com/en/news/ar...g-has-changed-the-financial-securities-market

http://www.marketwatch.com/story/deutsche-bank-to-pay-to-end-dark-pool-probe-2016-12-19


Inviting discussion!