IMO the stock has been manipulated. Someone went to the trouble...

IMO the stock has been manipulated.

Someone went to the trouble to employ a bot to drive the price down and has been accumulating while the stock drifts down and sideways.

Just a matter of time for the Pump (think BB said that), which will be so much better if Stirling has actually made significant acheivements in the meantime.

Off another thread but definately worth a read

http://www.financial-spread-betting.com/Stock-market-manipulation.html

THE DEADLY ART OF STOCK MANIPULATION....

In every profession, there are probably a dozen or two major rules.
Knowing them cold is what separates the professional from the amateur. Not
knowing them at all? Well, let's put it this way: How safe would you feel
if you suddenly found yourself piloting (solo) a Boeing 747 as it were
landing on an airstrip? Unless you are a professional pilot, you would
probably be frightened out of your wits and would soil your underwear.
Hold that thought as you read this essay because I will explain to you how
market manipulation works.

In order to successfully speculate, one should presume the following: THE
SMALL CAP STOCK MARKETS PRIMARILY EXIST TO FLEECE YOU! I'm talking about
Vancouver, Alberta, the Canadian Dealing Network and the US Over-the
Counter markets (Pink Sheets, Bulletin Board, etc.). One could also
stretch this, with many stocks, to include the world's senior stock
markets, including Toronto, New York, NASDAQ, London, etc. The average
investor or speculator is not very likely to have much success in the
small cap crapshoots. I guess that is what attracted ME to these markets.
I have been trying, for quite some time, to answer this question, "How
come?" Now, I know. And you should, too!

By the way, the premise of these books is uniformly: "While these
speculative companies do not actually make any money, one can profit by
speculating in these companies." THAT is the premise on how these markets
are run, by both the stock promoters, insiders, brokers, analysts and
others in this industry. That logic is flawed in that it presumes "someone
else" is going to end up holding the dirty bag. Follow this premise all
the way through and you will realize the insane conclusion: For these
markets to continue along that route, new suckers have to continue coming
into the marketplace. The conclusion is insane in that such mad activity
can only be short-lived. I disagree with this premise and propose another
solution (see my earlier essay: A Modest Proposal) at the end of this
essay.

What the professionals and the securities regulators know and understand,
which the rest of us do not, is this.


"RULE NUMBER ONE: ALL SHARP PRICE MOVEMENTS -- WHETHER UP OR DOWN -- ARE
THE RESULT OF ONE OR MORE (USUALLY A GROUP OF) PROFESSIONALS MANIPULATING
THE SHARE PRICE."

This should explain why a mining company finds something good and "nothing
happens" or the stock goes down. At the same time, for NO apparent reason,
a stock suddenly takes off for the sky! On little volume! Someone is
manipulating that stock, often with an unfounded rumor.

In order to make these market manipulations work, the professionals
assume: (a) The Public is STUPID and (b) The Public will mainly buy at the
HIGH and (c) The Public will sell at the LOW. Therefore, as long as the
market manipulator can run crowd control, he can be successful.

Let's face it: The reason you speculate in such markets is that you are
greedy AND optimistic. You believe in a better tomorrow and NEED to make
money quickly. It is this sentiment which is exploited by the market
manipulator. He controls YOUR greed and fear about a particular stock. If
he wants you to buy, the company's prospects look like the next Microsoft.
If the manipulator wants you to desert the sinking ship, he suddenly
becomes very guarded in his remarks about the company, isn't around to
glowingly answer questions about the company and/or GETS issued very bad
news about the company. Which brings us to the next important rule.

"RULE NUMBER TWO: IF THE MARKET MANIPULATOR WANTS TO DISTRIBUTE (DUMP) HIS
SHARES, HE WILL START A GOOD NEWS PROMOTIONAL CAMPAIGN."

Ever wonder why a particular company is made to look like the greatest
thing since sliced bread? That sentiment is manufactured.

Newsletter writers are hired -- either secretly or not -- to cheerlead a
stock. PR firms are hired and let loose upon an unsuspecting public.
Contracts to appear on radio talk shows are signed and implemented.
Stockbrokers get "cheap" stock to recommend the company to their "book"
(that means YOU, the client in his book). An advertising campaign is
rolled out (television ads, newspaper ads, card deck mailings). The
company signs up to exhibit at "investment conferences" and "gold shows"
(mainly so they can get a little "podium time" to hype you on their stock
and tell you how "their company is really different" and "not a stock
promotion.") Funny little "hype" messages are posted on Internet
newsgroups by the same cast of usual suspects. The more, the merrier. And
a little "juice" can go a long way toward running up the stock price.

The HYPE is on. The more clever a stock promoter, the better his knowledge
of the advertising business. Little gimmicks like "positioning" are used.
Example: Make a completely unknown company look warm and fuzzy and
appealing to you by comparing it to a recent success story, Diamond Fields
or Bre-X Minerals. That is the POSITIONING gospel, authored by Ries and
Trout (famous for "Avis: We Want To Be #1" and "We Try Harder" and other
such slogans). These advertising/PR executives must have stumbled onto
this formula after losing their shirts speculating in a few Canadian stock
promotions! The only reason you have been invited to this seemingly
incredible banquet is that YOU are the main course. After the market
manipulator has suckered you into "his investment," exchanging HIS paper
for YOUR cash, the walls begin to close in on you. Why is that?

"RULE NUMBER THREE: AS SOON AS THE MARKET MANIPULATOR HAS COMPLETED HIS
DISTRIBUTION (DUMPING) OF SHARES, HE WILL START A BAD NEWS OR NO NEWS
CAMPAIGN."

Your favorite home-run stock has just stalled or retreated a bit from its
high. Suddenly, there is a news VACUUM. Either NO news or BAD rumors. I
discovered this with quite a few stocks. I would get LOADS of information
and "hot tips." All of a sudden, my pipeline was shut-off. Some companies
would even issue a news release CONDEMNING me ("We don't need 'that kind
of hype' referring to me!). Cute, huh? When the company wanted fantastic
hype circulated hither and yon, there would be someone there to spoon-feed
me. The second the distribution phase was DONE....ooops! Sorry, no more
news. Or, "I'm sorry. He's not in the office." Or, "He won't be back until
Monday."

The really slick market manipulators would even seed the Internet news
groups or other journalists to plant negative stories about that company.
Or start a propaganda campaign of negative rumors on all available
communication vehicles. Even hiring a "contrarian" or "special PR firm" to
drive down the price. Even hiring someone to attack the guy who had
earlier written glowingly about the company. (This is not a game for the
faint-hearted!).

You'll also see the stock drifting endlessly. You may even experience a
helpless feeling, as if you were floating in outer space without a
lifeline. That is exactly HOW the market manipulator wants you to feel.
See Rule Number Five below. He may also be doing this to avoid the severe
disappointment of a "dry hole" or a "failed deal." You'll hear that
oft-cried refrain, "Oh well, that's the junior minerals exploration
business... very risky!" Or the oft-quoted statistic, "Nine out of 10
businesses fail each year and this IS a Venture Capital Startup stock
exchange." Don't think it wasn't contrived. If a geologist at a junior
mining company wasn't optimistic and rosy in his promise of exploration
success, he would be replaced by someone who was! Ditto for the high-tech
deal, in a world awash with PhD's.

So, how do you know when you are being taken? Look again at Rule #1.
Inside that rule, a few other rules unfold which explain how a stock price
is manipulated.

"RULE NUMBER FOUR: ANY STOCK THAT TRADES HUGE VOLUME AT HIGHER PRICES
SIGNALS THE DISTRIBUTION PHASE."

When there was less volume, the price was lower. Professionals were
accumulating. After the price runs, the volume increases. The
professionals bought low and sold high. The amateurs bought high (and will
soon enough sell low). In older books about market manipulation and stock
promotion, which I've recently studied, the markup price referred to THREE
times higher than the floor. The floor is the launchpad for the stock. For
example, if one looks at the stock price and finds a steady flatline on
the stock's chart of around 10 cents, then that range is the FLOOR.

Basically, the markup phase can go as high as the market manipulator is
capable of taking it. From my observations, a good markup should be able
to run about five to ten times higher than the floor, with six to seven
being common. The market manipulator will do everything in his power to
keep you OUT OF THE STOCK until the share price has been marked up by at
least two-three times, sometimes resorting to "shaking you out" until
after he has accumulated enough shares. Once the markup has begun, the
stock chart will show you one or more spikes in the volume -- all at much
higher prices (marked up by the manipulator, of course). That is
DISTRIBUTION and nothing else.

Example: Look at Software Control Systems (Alberta:XVN), in which I
purchased shares after it had been marked up five times. There were eight
days of 500,000 (plus) shares trading hands, with one day of 750,000
shares trading hands. Market manipulator(s) dumping shares into the volume
at higher prices. WHENEVER you see HUGE volume after the stock has risen
on a 75 degree angle, the distribution phase has started and you are
likely to be buying in -- at or near the stock's peak price.

Example: Look at Diamond Fields (TSE FR), which never increased at a 75
degree angle and did not have abnormal volume spikes, yet in less than two
years ran from C$4 to C$160/share.

Example: Look at Bre-X Minerals (Alberta:BXM), which did not experience
its first 75 degree angle, with huge volume until July 14th, 1995. The
next two trading days, BXM went down and stayed around C$12/share for two
weeks. The volume had been 60% higher nearly a month earlier, with only a
slight price increase. Each high volume and spectacular increase in BXM's
share price was met with a price retreat and leveling off. "Suddenly," BXM
wasn't trading at C$2/share; it was at C$170/share.... up 8500% in less
than a year!

In both of the above cases, major Canadian newspapers ran extremely
negative stories about both companies, at one time or another. In each
instance, just before another share price run up, retail investors fled
the stock! Just before both began yet another run up! Successful
short-term speculators generally exit any stock run up when the volume
soars; amateurs get greedy and buy at those points.

"RULE NUMBER FIVE: THE MARKET MANIPULATOR WILL ALWAYS TRY TO GET YOU TO
BUY AT THE HIGHEST, AND SELL AT THE LOWEST PRICE POSSIBLE."

Just as the manipulator will use every available means to invite you to
"the party," he will savagely and brutally drive you away from "his stock"
when he has fleeced you. The first falsehood you assume is that the stock
promoter WANTS you to make a bundle by investing in his company. So begins
a string of lies that run for as long as your stomach can take it.

You will get the first clue that "you have been had" when the stock stalls
at the higher level. Somehow, it ran out of steam and you are not sure
why. Well, it ran out of steam because the market manipulator stopped
running it up. It's over inflated and he can't convince more people to
buy. The volume dries up while the share price seems to stall. LOOK AT THE
TRADING VOLUME, NOT THE SHARE PRICE! When earlier, there may have been
500,000 shares trading each day for eight out of 12 trading days (as in
the case of Software Control Systems), now the volume has slipped to
100,000 shares (or so) daily. There are some buyers there, enough for the
manipulator to continue dumping his paper, but only so long as he can
enlist one or more individuals/services to bang his drum.

He may continue feeding the promo guys a string of "promises" and "good
news down the road." (Believe me, this HAS happened to me!) But, when the
news finally arrives, the stock price goes THUD! This is entirely
orchestrated by a market manipulator. You'll see it in the trading volume,
most of which is CONTRIVED. A market manipulator will have various brokers
buying and selling the stock to give the APPEARANCE of increasing volume
and price so that YOU do start chasing it higher.

At some point during the stall stage, investors get fed up with the
non-performance of the stock. It drifts for a while, in a steady retreat,
with perhaps a short-lived spike in price and volume (the final signal
that the manipulator has finally offloaded ALL of his paper). Then, the
stock comes tumbling down -- having lost ALL of the earlier share
appreciation.

Sometimes, with the more cruel manipulators, they will throw in a little
false hope... giving you a little more rope so they can better hang you.
Just after a severe drop, there will be a "bottom fishing" announcement
which sends the share price up a bit on high volume, rises a little more
after that and then continues to drift. Meanwhile, you keep getting
"shaken out" through a cruel drip-drip water torture of the share price's
slow retreat. Again, virtually every movement is completely orchestrated.

"RULE NUMBER SIX: IF THIS IS A REAL DEAL, THEN YOU ARE LIKELY TO BE THE
LAST PERSON TO BE NOTIFIED OR WILL BE DRIVEN OUT AT THE LOWER PRICES."

Like Jesse Livermore wrote, "If there's some easy money lying around, no
one is going to force it into your pocket." The same concept can be more
clearly understood by watching the tape. When a market manipulator wants
you into his stock, you will hear LOUD noises of stock promotion and hype.
If you are "in the loop," you will be bombarded from many directions.
Similarly, if he wants you out of the stock, then there will be
orchestrated rumors being circulated, rapid-fired at you again from many
directions. Just as good news may come to you in waves, so will bad news.

You will see evidence of a VERY sharp drop in the share price with HUGE
volume. That is you and your buddies running for the exits. If the deal is
really for real, the market manipulator wants to get ALL OF YOUR SHARES or
as many as he can... and at the lowest price he can. Whereas before, he
wanted you IN his market, so he could dump his shares to you at a higher
price, NOW when he sees that this deal IS for real, he wants to pay as
little as possible for those same shares... YOUR shares which he wants to
you part with, as quickly as possible.

The market manipulator will shake you out by DRIVING the price as low as
he can. Just as in the "accumulation" stage, he wants to keep everything
as quiet as possible so he can snap up as many of the shares for himself,
he will NOW turn down, or even turn off, the volume so he can repeat the
accumulation phase.

In the mining business, there seems to always be another "area play"
around the corner. Just as Voisey's Bay drifted into oblivion, during the
fourth quarter of 1995 and early into 1996, the same Voisey Bay
"wannabees" began striking deals in Indonesia. Some even used new
corporate entities. Same crooks, different shingles. The accumulation
phase was TOP SECRET. The noise level was deadingly silent. As soon as the
insiders accumulated all their shares, they let YOU in on the secret.

"RULE NUMBER SEVEN: CONVERSELY, YOU WILL OFTEN BE THE LAST TO KNOW WHEN
THIS DEAL SHOWS SIGNS OF FAILURE."

Twenty-twenty hindsight will often show you that there was a "little
stumble" in the share price, just as the "assays were delayed" or the
"deal didn't go through." Manipulators were peeling off their paper to
START the downslide. And ACCELERATE it. The quick slide down makes it
improbable for your getting out at more than what you originally paid for
the stock... and gives you a better reason for holding onto it "a little
longer" in case the price rebounds. Then, the drifting stage begins and
fear takes over. And unless you have serves of steel and can afford to
wait out the manipulator, you will more than likely end up selling out at
a cheap price.

For the insider, marketmaker or underwriter is obliged to buy back all of
your paper in order to keep his company alive and maintain control of it.
The less he has to pay for your paper, the lower his cost will be to
commence his stock promotion again... at some future date. Even if his
company has no prospects AT ALL, his "shell" of a company has some value
(only in that others might want to use that structure so they can run
their own stock promotion). So, the manipulator WILL buy back his paper.
He just wants to make sure that he pays as little for those shares as
possible.

"RULE NUMBER EIGHT: THE MARKET MANIPULATOR WILL COMPEL YOU INTO THE STOCK
SO THAT YOU DRIVE UP ITS PRICE SHARES."

Placing a Market Order or Pre-Market Order is an amateur's mistake,
typifying the US investor -- one who assumes that thinly traded issues are
the same as blue chip stocks, to which they are accustomed. A market
manipulator (traders included here) can jack up the share price during
your market order and bring you back a confirmation at some preposterous
level. The Market Manipulator will use the "tape" against you. He will
keep buying up his own paper to keep you reaching for a higher price. He
will get in line ahead of you to buy all the shares at the current price
and force you to pay MORE for those shares. He will tease you and MAKE you
reach for the higher price so you "won't miss out." Miss out on what?
Getting your head chopped off, that's what!

One can avoid market manipulation by not buying during the huge price
spikes and abnormal trading volumes, also known as chasing the stock to a
higher price.

"RULE NUMBER NINE: THE MARKET MANIPULATOR IS WELL AWARE OF THE EMOTIONS
YOU ARE EXPERIENCING DURING A RUN UP AND A COLLAPSE AND WILL PLAY YOUR
EMOTIONS LIKE A PIANO."

During the run up, you WILL have a rush of greed which compels you to run
into the stock. During the collapse, you WILL have a fear that you will
lose everything... so you will rush to exit. See how simple it is and how
clear a bell it strikes? Don't think this formula isn't tattooed inside
the mind of every manipulator. The market manipulator will play you on the
way up and play you on the way down. If he does it very well, he will make
it look like someone else's fault that you lost money! Promise to fill up
your wallet? You'll rush into the stock. Scare you into losing every penny
you have in that stock? You'll run away screaming with horror! And vow to
NEVER, ever speculate in such stocks again. But many of you still do....
The manipulator even knows how to bring you back for yet another play.

What actors! No wonder Vancouver is sometimes called "Hollywood North."

"FINAL RULE: A NEW BATCH OF SUCKERS ARE BORN WITH EVERY NEW PLAY."

The Financial Markets are a Cruel, Unkind and Dangerous Playing Field, one
place where the newest amateurs are generally fleeced the most
brutally.... usually by those who KNOW the above rules.

Just as I have a duty to ensure that each of you understand how this game
is played, YOU now have that same duty to guarantee that your fellow
speculator understands these rules. Just as I would be a criminal for not
making this data known to you, YOU would be just as criminal to keep it a
secret. There will always be an unsuspecting, trusting fool whom the rabid
dogs will tear to shreds, but it does NOT have to be this way.

IF every reader made this essay broadly known to his friends,
acquaintances and family, and they passed it on to their friends, word of
mouth could cause many of these market manipulators to pause. IF this
effort were done strenuously by many, then perhaps the financial markets
could weed out the crooked manipulators and the promoters could bring us
more legitimate plays.

The stock markets are a financing tool. The companies BORROW money from
you, when you invest or speculate in their companies. They want their
share price going higher so they can finance their deal with less dilution
of their shares... if they are good guys. But, how would you feel about a
friend or family member who kept borrowing money from you and never repaid
it? That would be theft, plain and simple. So, a market manipulator is
STEALING your money. Don't let him do it anymore. Insist that the company
in which you invest be honest or straight... or find another company in
which to speculate. Your money talks in LOUDER volumes than any stock
promotion scheme. ALWAYS refuse any deal which smells wrong.

Refuse to tolerate the scams prevalent in the financial markets. This can
ONLY be accomplished by KNOWING and USING the above rules. Thoroughly
COMPLETE your due diligence on a company before risking a dime. Dig up the
Insider Reports to find out who is blowing out their paper, how often they
are blowing out their paper and whatever happened to their "last play."

Begin to use this as YOUR rule of thumb: If the insider's paper is really
worthless, then avoid it. Find another's whose paper DOES hold promise and
honest possibilities. In these small cap stock markets, you are investing
more in the INDIVIDUAL behind the play, than the "possibility" of the play
itself. Ask yourself before speculating: Could I lend this person $5,000
for a year and hope to get it back? If not, then don't! Do it for your own
good and the good of everyone else who is so foolish as to speculate in
these financial markets!

The truly sane and only somewhat safe solution to all of this: FIND GOOD
COMPANIES IN WHICH TO SPECULATE AND GET INTO THEM AT THE GROUND FLOOR
LEVEL. Anything else is criminal or stupid. This is a case where there
really isn't a gray area. It's either Black or it's White. The company and
its management are scamsters or they really intend to bring value to their
shareholders.

JUST REMEMBER THIS IS A GAME.