While I tend to agree that a lot of both insider trading and...

While I tend to agree that a lot of both insider trading and share price manipulation happens on the market, I disagree strongly that there is any evidence of it happening with regard to Vocus.

For a start, the signs were pretty clear from December that something had gone seriously awry at Vocus. And since then developments have been consistently pointing toward deep problems in the company. A number of posters here on Hotcopper were warning that it was a mistake to do forward analyses based on past performance because Vocus going forward was a completely different business to past Vocus.

That's water under the bridge, but you can't run around now squealing about insider trading when the signs were all there in the public domain! For it to be insider trading, it has to be inside knowledge not available to outsiders.

What we're seeing with Vocus is opportunistic trading. Those with clear vision saw risk all over Vocus and started taking negative positions, including shorts. That created downward pressure. That in turn caused the share price to drop. That in turn caused (or increased) fear amongst shareholders who (like many on this thread) had either not adequately understood the business they'd put their money into, or had discounted views that didn't agree with their desires. It has been a classic sentiment/short spiral! I see no evidence at all that anything evil or illegal is happening.

You can be quite certain that the shorters are on the sidelines right now with trailer-loads of borrowed shares, waiting to dump on the next bit of negative.

For holders our strategic options here really amount to hold long for recovery, or crystallize losses.