it sounds like there was a lot of manipulation going on.
Manipulation? Well, that depends. If you mean manipulation in the sense that I "manipulate" the steering wheel, brakes, and accelerator when I drive my car, well, yes - there was manipulation going on.
But I'd bet - and correct me if I'm wrong - that your use of the term "manipulat[e]" indicates that you feel, or that others have expressed, that the dealer was doing something wrong or acting illicitly in keeping the stock from running IF that is indeed what he was doing.
Chances are, IMO, from what I've heard, he had a huge order, and was fighting to get it done under a price he'd bid/offered. Not to mention the fact that the firm you mentioned is a wholesaler, and far more likely than any other market entity - other than ECN's, maybe - to be real.
The fact is: if the market forces were there to push the stock north, and buyers (dealer & retail) would have wacked level after level of the offer while bidding aggressively, at some point, there wouldn't have been a thing he could have done about it. His capital would have been consumed to an extent that risk management and the head trader on his desk wouldn't have been comfortable with, the stock would have goosed, and whatever price he was trying to fill under would have been history.
What I'm saying is: if no other market entity steps up to commit the capital, trade aggressively, and in doing so -push past him, all a dealer like the one you saw is doing is operating well within the realm of what he is permitted - and I daresay, expected - to. He was the market, period.
Not much of a pure auction.
LOL!!!
Thank goodness; the NASDAQ stock market is not, doesn't portend to be, and never has been, an auction. If you want an "auction," wait for Primex Trading N/A to start operating or the AZX to get some more volume through it. NASDAQ is an OTC, continuous trading market.
LPS5 |
