Gary: You have answered affirmatively to these questions:
- If there were an electronic exchange for OTC:BB stocks as there is with Nasdaq stocks,
do you think that any trader/investor would be any better off ?
- With no MMs to manipulate the stocks in the manner you described,
do you feel you would do better in your trading ?
It then begs the conclusive question: Why do you bother trading pennies ?
In other words, if you feel you would get a more fair play for your money on other exchanges why tolerate the unfairness in the OTC:BB market ?
My feeling is that despite the inequities that exist with OTC:BB stocks one must accept that they are an inherent aspect of that market and one must assume he/she will be faced with such adversity. It's the nature of the beast.
Allow me to take this to yet a higher plane; the adversity we face in almost any situation in life.
We would all like to face a life where rational decisions result in rational outcomes. But very often things go wrong for unanticipated or improbable reasons. We see it in sports. We see players, coaches, referees, and umpires make mistakes. We see instant replay of obvious errors. Yet all must agree before a game is ever played that such mistakes are a part of the game and one is either going to accept that or not play at all. Victory is never just a case of superiority in brawn or brains. It is tainted with a heavy element of chance that we can't ignore. Someone will get lucky and someone won't.
For all the preparation that I do, the DD, the phone calls to IR's and CEO's, etc. ; before I press the key to buy a stock, I often find myself asking the question Clint Eastwood posed in a famous scene : 'How lucky do you feel ?"
Whenever I feel myself ready to complain about MM manipulation, a brokers inability to fill an order promptly, or a companies complacency towards shareholders, I need to remind myself to look in the mirror. It is I who chose to play this game. I must face this adversity with all it's inherent flaws or not play the game at all. |
