I've been called Julian, now the "great sure one" is calling me Chuck -- I guess I've been called worse (just don't call me late for dinner!!). Sheesh, not really sure who I am -- ahh, what the hell, better have another vodka to try and figure it out, LOL.
RE: "the shake-down"
It's funny because there's never any volume on the ASKS when the j*rkoffs are doing this -- they put 500 shares on the ask. What the hell do I want 500 shares for? The volume is on the BID, but my orders almost never get filled (a partial if anything). I guess that we've already concluded that the seller is just Buby (ooops, I mean Booby, sorry Johnny -- coudn't resist, lol) hitting his own BID so in theory, why would he dump into my or your BID. Essentially selling from one account to another. If you really think about -- if there was a buyer's strike on a stock (like today on UBS / LOK) couldn't the same shares (let's say 10, 000) be swapped back and forth multiple times by the same entity to ensure that the price stays down or goes lower in the hopes of shakin' out the weak. It seems plausible -- perhaps there is someone with a more intimate knowledge of market manipulation which could add to this.
Bottoms Up!!
Ohhhh, that tastes sooooo gooooood :)