of a brokerage that puts restrictions on trades of greater than 2,500 shares of a penney stock? One of my accounts adds a .005 cent fee per share for blocks greater than 10,000 shares, and I used to have one that did this for over 5,000. Any out there at 2,500?

The reason I ask, is that over the past many weeks I`ve seen a LOT of trades go through for 2,500 shares, sometimes at the bid, and sometimes (if we`re ``down``) at the ask. For instance, with a 15 minute delay, right now I see that 10 of the last 31 trades (all my chart shows) were at 2,500 shares. It just seems way too frequent to be a coincidence. I do recognize that the MMs are reporting inventory at 2,500 shares due to our current PPS, but I can`t see this as being the driver (because the MMs will almost always show this, since it`s the minimum).

So is this a good quantity to use to stay ``under the RADAR``? I would think so - not too big, not too small - hardly noteable. But the frequency, sometimes repeated (like 4 in a row - that`s beyond coincidence, i.e., why not just do one 10,000 share trade, since the shares are obviously there?).

I have suspected for weeks that these may be buy-back trades. That is, of course, unless there`s somebody out there with a ton of money who really, really likes the number ``2,500`` (number of moles on their back?, beers drank per month?, cats in their house? LOL).

But I KNOW nuttin`! Just an observation and a speculative conclusion.

SGE