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Biotech / Medical : Ligand (LGND) Breakout! -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Alper H.YUKSEL who wrote (11750)	11/26/1997 1:50:00 PM
From: Henry Niman	Respond to of 32384

Alper, The spread gets wide when the volume gets low. After the big block trades, there has been very little action (volume has been around 144,000 for over an hour). Looks like most traders are taking off for vacation.

To: Alper H.YUKSEL who wrote (11750)	11/26/1997 2:06:00 PM
From: Henry Niman	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 32384

Alper, Looks like LGND short interest should be hopping. Short interest by one of our posters moved from 35,000 @ 18 to over 90,000 @ 18 in just a few minutes which is quite remarkable in view of LGND's price today :-).

To: Alper H.YUKSEL who wrote (11750)	11/26/1997 3:49:00 PM
From: Andreas Helke	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 32384

I think a large bid ask spread is pretty normal for volatile small cap stocks. If the market participants accept the bid and ask price the market makers will profit by buying the shares at the bid price and reselling them at the ask price. Today I took advantage of the spread to buy cheap LGND and LGNDW stock. With LGNDW bid $8 ask $8 1/2 I put in a buy order at $8 1/8. The order ended up on the Island system and was the best bid for a few hours until someone finally decided to sell some warrants at $8 1/8. In this case the market makers are bypassed and do not earn money on the bid/ask spread. Immediately after my order got filled my offer was no longer available as best bid and the bid dropped back to $8. I had to wait less then 3 minutes to get a LGND buy order at $13 5/8 filled. During this time the spread did narrow from $13 9/16 - $13 3/4 to $13 5/8 - $13 3/4. Andreas

To: Alper H.YUKSEL who wrote (11750)	11/28/1997 6:21:00 PM
From: HerbertOtto	Read Replies (3) \| Respond to of 32384

< why the big spread > Typically, wider spreads occur at tops and bottoms. Finally, at lows, holders refuse to sell, and the buyers have not yet decided they have to 'pay up' , and stubbornly maintain their bids at perceived support levels. Watch for the 'Bid Size' to increase, as more buyers reveal their interest. Then the bid will edge up 1/16... and some of the low bidders will join the increasing bids. This has the appearance of 'drifting upward' like a helium balloon. Not a rally, just a drift up. This will go until the first resistance is hit, where some Very short-term 'scalpers' will try to grab their 1/2 point profit. Then follows a quick sell-off back to the low on vanishing volume. Then if all is ok, a rally will develop. Incidentally, LGND is just under its 200-day MA at 13 1/8, and just bounced off the Lower 20% band on the 50-day MA. With the recent dilutive news out of the way, and the technical decline satisfied, it could now rally back to 14, putting it back above the 200-day MA. Watch the volume. Today's light volume was ok, since it was an 'inside day'. But to get out of this bearish zone, LGND needs a solid volum up-day, say 300K sh with close over 13 1/2. Then over 14 1/2, up to the 50-day MA at 15 5/8. Then we'll see. Over the next few days, if that up-day to 13 1/2+ cannot occur, then we may get a 'clean-out' decline down to 11 3/4 to 12. Reading this thread, there are still too many get-even sentiments being expressed. LGND needs more investors looking for the Michael Murphy type targets of $125. Hopefully we don't need to go back to 9 - but who knows? The next 2 weeks should be good, with that Seattle biotech conference around Dec.13. Jim McCammet earlier said 'buy LGND up to 16', so I expect it will get near there in next 2 weeks. We'll see if a big rally can get going - say to 17 1/2. There will be trouble getting through 15 3/4 to 16. Seasonals are positive now. And no matter how I stretch, I can't see how Asia can have a significant negative impact on LGND. So, all-in-all, look for price improvement. Today's 1/8 point is a beginning. Who knows, it may have been the last chance in history to buy LGND below 13. Let's see - 12 1/2 * 10 = 125. Wow, a 10-bagger! Keep up that wall of worry. Good luck! Herbert