I recently read that in addition to selling short, some traders would actually buy stock that they had shorted and then sell that stock into any bad news in either the sector or the company, thereby increasing the potential momentum of any falling price.

All perfectly legal unless the "bad news" was propogated by the said short sellers.

A long time ago I suggested that any entity, either alone or in unison with others, with sufficient stock, could have a similar effect on any company's share price.

For example, during the recent Crossflo pricing period, such an entity could trickle sells into the daily volume in the knowledge that it was in PTSC's best interest to continue buying back stock, thereby maintaining a price equilibrium.

Selling 1,000,000 over the 10 day period would average a cash balance of $240,000. They could then trickle a further 500,000 into the market over the next 10 trading days, increasing the downward pressure on any news perceived as "bad". A cash balance of approximately $340,000 would result.

Shares could then be slowly repurchased so as not to seriously affect the falling price until such time as the 1.5 million were replenished. With an average buy back price of 20 cents the entity would have a profit in the region of $40,000.

Is it possible for such a scenario to have been ongoing since the warrant repricing period? How legal is it if the entity was acting with others and/or spreading FUD at the same time?

Obviously, the above is just a theoretical example and there are no suggestions, implied or otherwise, that this has occurred at PTSC.

Be well