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If they froze this because of a 2008 complaint that had nothing to do with the present management or company then that's just crap. No reason the current investors OR the present management should be hurt because of something done with this shell in its previous life. Am I missing something?
I wouldn't be surprised if Scottrade was behind this whole thing. They tend to mess everything up all the time.
Very strange. So ST gave you a 14.4% divy. I wonder if they ran out of dividend shares and are trying to account for them. Anyone else using Scottrade that can check their account?
Strange. What broker is that with? Anyone else have the same issue with the divy?
Agreed. She needs to step up to the plate and say what's going on. If the company messed up on share totals or something compliance related then own up to it, fix it, and let's move on. This stock is still primed to go but with each passing day the interest dwindles.
I have a hard time believing that too. Ms. Audette in actuality should be the only person to know the reasoning behind the chill - besides the DTC of course.
Since we don't know what's going on I've been trying to come up with other explanations besides a naked short that could lead to a chill. The ibox has the OS at 4,680,794,361 (as of December 13, 2010). Let's just say that changed between then and the divy issuance to the max of 5B for the OS. The divy was for 3%, so going on the maxed OS assumption that would be 150M shares needed to pay out the divy. That would put them over their AS. Just speculating though. If the OS remained the same between the then and the issuance that would need roughly 140M shares to pay out the divy, putting the OS at 4.8B.
I DO think this is a legit company with a legit product. That said, I also think the lack of communication from the company is going to snowball as the days go by and more people are going to begin to question the company's integrity. Silence is deafening as they say. A simple update as to where we all stand would do wonders, IMO.
I checked with the Nevada SOS and there have been no new amendments, so that's a good thing (i.e. - no increase in A/S)
Nevada SOS:
http://nvsos.gov/sosentitysearch/corpActions.aspx?lx8nvq=dgmRczXUj368BufXZHQUHg%253d%253d&CorpName=STRATEGIC+MANAGEMENT+%26+OPPORTUNITY+CORPORATION
I'm starting to wonder if this isn't a naked short issue - which is may very well be - that possibly the divy issue might pertain to the ~2.4B shares of common Ms. Audette owns. Does anyone know how long they are restricted for? Do restricted common also receive a dividend? I'm unsure.
Has anyone spoken to or able to contact the CEO?
Totally agree. We were headed for the break and momentum was building really well.
I'm not too happy about the lack of communication from the company in regards to this situation. I've sent numerous emails (to many email addresses) and have yet to hear anything back. I advised them to drop a PR and not just update their Facebook / Twitter page as few look there. I also called but couldn't get a human. If they would just update us, the people with their own money stuck, then I would feel better.
RELM - .0008
RELM - .0008
Once this whole thing with the DTC is resolved the stock should move north in a hurry. The key here is to get it resolved as soon as possible.
Has anyone been able to speak with the CEO? At the very least her conversations up to this point with the DTC should be shared. I filed again with the SEC today. I don't think anyone at this point has the right to complain unless they have done so also. Help the cause out.
https://tts.sec.gov/oiea/Complaint.html
Well said.
I filed a complaint with the SEC for this on 3/4/11.
Nicely done.
Heya G. Wish I could have picked up more this morning. This feels like it's teetering on a good push north.
Looking good here. Picked up those first .0006s that went off this am. Seems the MMs were caught off guard.
RELM .0007 looking solid this morning
Picked up a few RELM at .0006. Moves easy.
I think TD Ameritrade folds with enough pressure. They don't have to abide by the DTCC, but rather are just being a "team player" right now. However, if they get enough heat it may make the situation no longer worth their while. Just my opinion. I have sent them a few messages. I guess we'll see. Either way it's a shame that this "chill" crap has taken away from what should be a very good Monday if the product launch goes ahead as scheduled. The company is solid and the product looks great, so it's too bad some pennyland stink got on SMPP...but it shall pass.
Strong buying too...aside from the other smaller hits we had that one 10M drop. Sky is the limit here.
A break of .0009 would be beautiful.
So on 2/28/11 FINRA rule 4320 applied to non-reporting companies.
From the rule:
http://www.finra.org/web/groups/industry/@ip/@reg/@notice/documents/notices/p121916.pdf
Among other things, FINRA Rule 4320 requires participants of registered clearing agencies to take action on failures to deliver that exist for 13 consecutive settlement days in certain
non-reporting securities. In addition, if the fail to deliver position is not closed out in the requisite time period, a participant of a registered clearing agency or any brokerdealer
for which it clears transactions is prohibited from effecting further short sales in the particular specified security without borrowing, or entering into a bona fide arrangement to borrow, the security until the fail to deliver position is closed out.
My best guess is the new FINRA rules coupled with the timing of the dividend caught some MM or broker with their pants down and now the race to cover their tracks is on. While I usually don't like to draw attention to a company, I have filed twice with FINRA, once with the SEC, and sent a nastygram to TD Ameritrade. FINRA will act but only after they get enough complaints on a specific subject and using your real name rather than filing anonymously will get more attention (from past experience). That being said, I am excited to see what happens here. I have a feeling all those 200 share prints was actually a broker or MM looking for shares (despite the MM signal rumor that most - including myself - don't put much faith into). They failed to get them so they called in a favor to the DTC and we are where we are. I think we prevail though. There are only so many shares out there and it seems they are locked down tight.
New FINRA Rules:
I borrowed this from another site and rather than have this post removed by referencing it I'll just say I borrowed it but it's a great post and very informative.
****************************************************************
New short rules in effect today
Tomorrow will begin the first day of new FINRA market rules that will affect short sellers across the exchanges. These new rules will massively change how traders and market makers deal with short and naked short selling of stocks.
According to these FINRA rule filings, three new laws and regulations go into affect starting on February 28th, and in this, it will remove a universal exemption used by market makers to get away with failing to deliver stock according to current SEC rules.
There’s 3 new laws gaining attention in the NSS market reform arena: FINRA 4320 goes into effect on 2/28/11. It mandates 13 day buy-ins for open delivery failures FINALLY applying to shares of non-reporting corporations. FINRA 2010-043, also starting on 2/28/11 reinstates the “short sale exempt” (SSE) marking requirements for trade reporting and the OATS system. Those MMs accessing the bona fide MM exemption from executing pre-borrows or “locates” before admittedly naked short sales must now FORMALLY acknowledge the accessing of that universally-abused exemption. Being that these trades are theoretically being made to “inject liquidity” then the excuse to hide the related trade data from the public’s eyes goes out the window. You can’t have it both ways and claim the bona fide MM exemption and later claim that the related trade data needs to be kept secret because it might reveal a “proprietary trading strategy”.
Truly bona fide MMs that are able to legally access that universally-abused exemption cover their naked short position on the next downtick after their short sale when buy side liquidity is in need of being ejected as share prices fall. The 3rd new rule which is in effect now states that the offers and bids that MMs post must be of approximately the same size. No longer can the offers be of 1 million shares and the offsetting bid good for the minimum 5,000 shares.
What this means for investors and traders is that many of the games large brokers and market makers use to manipulate a stock by holding down investor interest through short selling, or by using a small sell to offset a large buy to keep a stock from moving in a particular direction, will be illegal, and open to investigation.
Examples of this type of manipulation occur when investors put in bids to purchase say, 100,000 shares of XYZ stock at the current market price of say $10.00 per share. The market maker will purchase those shares in the open market in blocks as they can accumulate shares until the purchase is completed. Then, a market maker will bring down the price through manipulation, by selling short a block of say 5000 shares at $9.95. The ratio of strong buying to selling was 20:1, but after both transactions took place, the stock actually fell $.05.
Thus the market maker controls the market of stock through manipulation, instead of simply allowing for the equity to move according to natural market forces.
Horror stories abound of market maker manipulation and naked short selling. There was even a proven case where an investor owned 150% of the shares that a company legally had in the market. This means, 50% of the investors shares were invisible and were created out of thin air, established through naked short selling by a broker, or market maker.
Tomorrow begins a new day for the US markets, and new rules that could prove interesting for investors. If the SEC and FINRA follow through with enforcing these new rules, then we could see the markets skyrocket upwards as short sellers desperately battle to purchase their necessary stock back at any price."
Gander
Big difference between SMPP and CLD* though. I'm new to SMPP, but they never "worked" with Big Apple Cons. did they? Hopefully not. But CLD* did and from what I've read it's a big old battle over shares Big Apple thinks they are owed and a stop order with the TA put on by the CEO of CLD*. So they are locked in a battle over there. Here though, it seems like the dividend caused the issue be it smoking out the naked shorts or a incorrect share distrubution from the TA...could be anything. Either way I think we are in a much better position here (sorry all the CLD* holders, I hope it all works out soon).
Just my opinion, but I too think we should all just sit back and relax. The stock is trading beautifully and the shares are getting tighter each trading day. The DTC is NOT a government agency so this is nothing more than a temporary inconvenience. I think this is a result of one or more of the three items below.
1) Cover-up by a less-than-honest clearing house (DTC)
2) An administrative error on the transfer agent's side of thing from the dividend issuance
3) A direct result of the new FINRA rules put in place to further protect from naked shorting
Regardless, I do believe this entire thing is caused by the dividend and nothing more. I've been in a few pennies that have issued dividends and none of them have ever worked out correctly. Heck, I still have dividends from two years ago that can't be traded and don't even have a ticker next to them.
It would be a completely different than if the SEC had suspended trading, but it's nothing even close to that. This is nothing more than accounting for shares (real or phantom). And we are not alone, many pinks are having the same issue right now. It will pass and this will still be the same great company and product we all tossed money towards.
Just my opinion but I'm fine with what is going on, albeit a bit pissed that the DTC still has this kind of undeserved power.
Have a great weekend all. Great things on the horizon for SMPP and SOON!!
The thing with the "chill" is that it will pass, possibly as soon as Monday. This isn't a halt or suspension by an authority. My guess is it caused by dividend.
Eligibility date for dividend was 1/19/11
DTC clearing suspension order was on 2/3/11
My guess is there was a discrepency between the amount of shares the DTC showed and the amount of divys the TA issued, meaning there was a large gap between real shares and NSS shares. It is possible the DTC is trying to find the naked short and therefore issued a global halt so they can find it and correct it. However, the DTC isn't always on the up and up so it could be they are helping the naked short cover by halting buying/selling.
Of course this is just my opinion and based on nothing but speculation.
However, when all is said and done this has nothing to do with the actual company or its product. It's all about accounting for shares and I think the divy put a wrench in the works.
I agree. The company and the product are great.
Agreed MOMO. SMPP is a rocket just waiting to lift off.
Very good point. Something doesn't smell right.
Agreed. Just got off the phone with TD Ameritrade and there is a GLOBAL LOCK on SMPP. They do not know when it will be released. They said that's why my orders were canceled as it's a system wide thing...as soon as a lock goes in place all open orders are canceled. I'm calling DTC/MM shenanigans. I have a feeling this gets cleared up soon though.
Oh, that's good...so just no online buying? Still seems like our good friend the DTC is hampering what should be a great EOD.
Actually, I had my shares up at .01 (just to do it) and they canceled all my orders. Plus, I just tried to do a buy through TD and it I wasn't allowed.
The DTCC is about as corrupt as they come. Probably trying to cover their tracks and account for shares they don't own. Probably won't do much, but I just filed a complaint with the SEC in regards to the "chill". Sick of sitting idly by and watching them manipulate the stock.
SMPP .0008 - Product launch Monday - Shares getting VERY tight over there
And SMPP has half the float of MMT3. I think it's going to get exciting around here in a hurry.