To all tape readers:
Whewwww!! The FTEL pilot hit an airpocket today. It shook up
some of the passengers (a few of them even went out the back
door, parachutes in hand. Hope they landed safely but I don't
expect to see them back again!!). Both the crew and the passengers
however, generally took it all in stride, recognizing and
respecting the turbulence which occasionally occurs at these levels.
The trip begin quietly with only 13 trades in the first half
hour (and only two sells! To repeat, 2 of 13 trades went to the
MMs at their bid!). But the bid/ask moved from an opening
5.31-5.44 down to 5.18-5.31. The MMs had picked up
on the diminishing volume coming in to buy FTEL at the mid
$5.00 range and were selling through any asks to shake out
some sells to them. And in the second hour and one-half, they
were rewarded with 19 trades and only 3 going to their ask.
Its this kind of trading which will give reason to lower
the bid/ask and, as expected, the MMs obliged.
The next hour, 11:00-12:00 had the bid/ask drop as low as
5.06-5.12 but the price was as attractive to buyers as it
was nervewracking to uninformed and uncommitted sellers
(would the MMs dare be shorting on a Tuesday?). This resulted
in buying and selling being even for this period.
To review: In the first two and one-half hours of trading this
morning, there were 54 trades totalling approximately 66,800
shares and less than half were sold to the MMs, less than
half going to their bid! Yet the bid ask, from a strengthening
close of 5.38-5.43 yesterday, had sunk to 5.00-5.18!!
And then the air pocket hit!! In the next hour the price fell
off the edge as the MMs revelled in the insanity of selling.
They simply lowered their price and gift-wrapped shares were
handed to them. They lowered it some more and more shares fell
from the sky. The bid/ask dropped to 4.50-4.62 (and I believe
'Trader Vic' grabbed some 4.62s. Congratulations!) before a
sense of calm was restored. The MMs manged to pick up almost
50,000 shares under $5.00 between 12:00-14:00! But after that
it was all uphill. Ouside of six sells to the market makers
which totalled 26,000 shares, it was all buying! Excluding
those sells, from 14:00-15:00 (16:00 is closing for reference)
there were 48 trades constituting 54,000 volume and only six
were sells to the MMs. Only six!! The matador's cape was once
again visible and the FTEL Bull was snorting!
And in the last hour the pace slowed but not the upward pressure.
23 trades totalling only 27,400 shares but again only six sells
totalling 6,300 shares. And the bid/ask moved from 4.66-4.75
at 14:00 to a close of 5.12-5.25. And the small volume shows
there was no reaction the the FTEL news release today.
This news release appears to be a primer for something of more
substance. The excitement is having Frank step to the plate and
point to the center field fence showing where the next pitch
is going to go. He would not have dared do that unless FTEL was
geared up in every way required to handle high volume and
offer related support services.
And we're still in the early innings!!!
'Til tomorrow.... |
