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Technology Stocks : Apple Inc. -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Randy Tidd who wrote (11799)	4/18/1998 5:40:00 PM
From: Sam Scrutchins	Read Replies (4) \| Respond to of 213177

However, I suppose market manipulators provide as good an explanation of the day-to-day stock price movements as any. The daily movements of a stock are under the influence of so many variables that the activity is effectively random. Randy, This is pure BS. There is no randomness at all to the movement of the stock price. One only had to have watched Apple on Thursday morning as I did. First, the MM's held the bid price at about 29 1/8 to 29 1/4 (I may be slightly off here) while they released millions of their on inventory at 29 1/2 to 29 5/8. After they cleaned themselves out, they quickly dropped the price down to the upper 28's and started picking up the panic sellers to replenish their inventory. The stock moved back up to about 29 bid for a little while, but then the MM's were able to drop it all the way to 28 3/16 bid, where the again consistently replenished their inventory. You are out of your mind if you don't believe the MMs do this. They are at least as greedy as you or I, and probably more so. Their big ace is their ability to control the market. Watch the bid/ask on the stock. It will sit at one point for a long time, then suddently, with no outside news, go up or down a 1/2 point or more on absolutely no volume. This, Randy, is pure manipulation. Sam

To: Randy Tidd who wrote (11799)	4/21/1998 1:03:00 AM
From: HerbVic	Respond to of 213177

Randy, The practice is called churning. A MM who stands to loose big on the sudden rise of an issue may buy and sell the issue repeatedly to hold the price steady in the face of rising demand. The formula is simple if one has the resources. As the issue's price rises, the MM sells, then sells, then sells until the price direction reverses. When it falls sufficiently, he may then start buying back the issues at a lower price, metering the volume so as not to drive the price up too quickly. Then the cycle starts over again and repeats as necessary. The true efficiency of the market is lost in the artificially inflated volume and the price of the issue is controlled or at least limited. It is my understanding that the practice is illegal, but very hard to prove. Anyone who would like to add to or subtract from this explanation is welcome to chip in their thoughts. I am only an egg. HerbVic