I couldn't agree more. Algo (bot) trading, High Frequency Trading (HFT), dark pool trading, and yes - shorting - all artificially move the market.
The common excuse/defence is that they "provide liquidity to the markets" - which IMHO is just so much crapola.
All those things do is to provide the big end of town, with the Direct Market Access to the ASX computers, with the means by which they can manipulate the market and individual stocks.
It would be nice, in an ideal world, if all computerized trading, and all shorting, were to be banned.
But that won't happen - the ASX love 'em!
So we just have to learn to live with it, and recognise it when it's happening.
But those techniques can and do move the share prices whichever way they want to, with downwards being much easier to do.
The days of investing in companies based on the company's prospects and becoming a part owner by virtue of holding shares, are long gone. About 70% of all trades on the market are now computer to computer, and increasing.
PDN Price at posting:
$1.71 Sentiment: LT Buy Disclosure: Held
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