Didn't tronox walk away from the german operations? I don't know if there is any value for us there. titaniuminvestor would know.

Tommy try this link:

http://www.tronox.com/ir/faq_ir.htm

For our purposes here in bankruptcy the voting rights mean nothing so there will be no difference between the recovery for the A's and B's. Typically you'd buy whichever is cheaper. However, I think the A's are probably more liquid. Seems like the B's are pretty tightly held. But again, this would be irrelevent if you plan to hold until recovery from bankruptcy.

Hope this helps.

Newtech great find. Interesting to note that Peter Young from Young & Partners is an advisor to the Tronox equity committee. Do you think he might have some insight here...nice!

It seems we finally found some buyers at 75 cents....

Ernst & Young's response seems pretty boilerplate. They haven't seen the environmental reserve calculation so they can't really say if their 2007 and prior audits can't be relied upon. Based on the agreements reached with the EPA and others I'd say it is pretty obvious that the reserves were understated. Doesn't matter right now. Tronox brings in new auditors and moves forward.

NITE certainly has had its problems and stock manipulation certainly does exist. But comments like the link below are over the top and remind me of the 1950's when everyone was a Commie.

http://investorshub.advfn.com/boards/read_msg.aspx?message_id=47620447

In my opinion FINRA has done the investing public a huge disservice by releasing the raw short sale data daily without also providing a comprehensive explanation of how the data is compiled and how to properly interpret it. Are there abusive shorts out there? You bet there are. Is an abusive short behind every penny stock that drops? No way.

I've clearly stated my opinion on the recent Tronox stock trading activity. So I, like jaxstraw, will drop this matter and continue to seek out valuable information regarding Tronox and it's business. In the future if I think the stock is being manipulated you can bet that I'll be one of the first ones to report the activity to FINRA.

http://www.finra.org/Investors/ProtectYourself/p118628

I own about equal amounts of the A's and B's

So, yes it would be perfectly normal to have the same firms perhaps execute my trades for both classes if I were selling (which I am not by the way). After all, wouldn't it make sense for me to sell some of both classes?

As I pointed out, two of your "manipulators" are ARCA and AUTO. Look them up. They are not market makers.

A true market maker will carry an inventory of the stock they are making a market in. This market maker will often execute your trade by taking the other side because, gasp, that's what they do, make a market in the issue. However, I get the feeling that the true market makers here don't have much of an inventory at all. So when you place an order they are most likely trying to match you up with someone else on the other side. The issues are somewhat illiquid. Anyone here on the board put in an order at the bid or ask and have it take what seems like forever for it to fill? This is also why I think the short sales reported on the daily short sale reports are usually such a high percentage of the total sales. When a sell order comes in the market makers don't have the inventory to fill it immediately, nor are they willing to fill the order at the current bid/ask because the shares may not be there for them at the current price and they'll get stuck. So they will find a buyer for your sell order and execute the trade as a short sale and then turn around and buy your shares. This is called a "riskless principal" transaction as I have attempted to explain before. The true market maker doesn't want to get stuck on the other side of the trade here because Tronox is so thin.

But this is just all my take on the trading here. Honestly though, I will admit that your naked short selling and market maker manipulation make for much more exciting discussion. But alas, I'm afraid it's getting late and I need to catch a train to try to steal that crop report from Mr. Beeks before FCOJ trading opens in the morning...

Trading - I'm not worried.
The volume of trading for the past month has been pretty low. Market has been really choppy. Guys who bot cheap could be taking some off the table. Guys who bot recently expecting a run could be cutting losses. It's all just noise in my opinion. You guys just don't get it. ARCA for example is an ECN. They don't carry an inventory of stock to trade, they just facilitate orders to get the best price for the customer. So they aren't naked shorting or manipulating the stock. Miller Tabak represents institutional and high net worth clients. They probably have someone who's doubled his money and is now selling. Automated Trading Desk (AUTO) is essentially what their name says, automated trading for clients. They use fancy computer systems to help clients make trades and get the best prices. Again, like ARCA, these guys don't hold securities so they're not manipulating the stock to accumulate shares. Today I glanced at Level 2 for a moment and saw NITE on the ask. Guess what, that was probably a retail investor like all of us who's freaking out about the price and decided to sell.

The selling really doesn't matter. Like I said, the volume has been low. We know Tronox is worth a good deal more than the stock's trading for right now. The next scheduled court date is June 24, the POR is expected before July 12. Patience. Buy more perhaps.

uhlmant, nice find

uhlmant I think you are absolutely correct about Tronox. This recent selling doesn't bother me at all. Not much volume on the downside. Someone just wanted/needed to get out. Happens all the time. Do you know if the Tiwest plant capacity upgrade has been completed? Seems like I remember Titantiuminvester saying that it was but we wouldn't benefit until we paid our 1/2 of the cost.

Why would the market makers (or anyone else for that matter) want to accumulate more shares of Tronox at lower prices?

That bond report came from CRT Capital.
http://investorshub.advfn.com/boards/read_msg.aspx?message_id=48031895&txt2find=crtc

It's actually July 12. That's the date that the company has exclusivity to file a POR.

http://www.kccllc.net/documents/0910156/0910156100428000000000008.pdf

uhlmant, everett, like I said, ARCA is an ECN.

Some guy selling from E-Trade probably shows up as ARCA on the level2. Thousands of firms use ARCA. The point is, you can't tell who is selling (or buying for that matter).

As far as the daily short sale report, pretty hard to blame the selling on "naked short selling" today. It would appear to be actual sales. Big deal. Market down 300+ and someone decides to sell a little Tronox. Is that a surprise after the run it's had?

Apparently no one noticed my post earlier today regarding the 2008 and 2009 audits. The company is going to have them done, in addition, they are going to have the prior financials restated. Hello? It would appear that they are getting their ducks in a row for the no later than July 12 POR release. They will need updated financials to get the stock relisted.

So, I think the light at the end of the tunnel might just be getting a bit brighter here.

ARCA is an ECN.

Tronox -

http://sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1328910/000095012310050846/d73186e8vk.htm

Tronox moving forward by having audited 2008 and 2009 financial statements prepared as well as restating old financials. I think this signals that we will see a POR by the upcoming July 12 end of exclusivity date.

This is interesting -

http://sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1328910/000095012310050846/d73186e8vk.htm

Not so much the dismissal of E&Y but the fact that they are going to complete the audits for 2008 and 2009, i.e. bring their financials up to speed....hmmm.

Yes, CLEARLY, those must be naked short sales by a manipulative market maker. I am beginning to understand your reasoning here.

newtechinvestor, again, many apologies for even bringing this up. I was under the assumption (clearly incorrectly) that the seller(s) were probably guys who had made 2x, 3x, 4x or more on their money and were simply taking profits.

I am very long here and anxiously await a higher stock price.

I apologize for my stupidity. The gentleman from FINRA who explained the report and likely "riskless principal" transactions that were occurring here was probably a rookie. He also stated that the detailed monthly report would clearly show this. However, this report is an enormous text file and I haven't yet figured out a way to open it.

everett7, based on your close monitoring of these FINRA daily short sales reports, how many naked sold short shares would you say is out there currently?

uhlmant, tronox isn't being shorted

The data you are looking at is likely not reporting true short sales vs total sales for the day. Many market makers will handle the trade as a "riskless principal" transaction. I have posted about this here http://investorshub.advfn.com/boards/read_msg.aspx?message_id=49221352

As of April 30 the short interest in TRXAQ was about 5,000 shares
http://www.otcmarkets.com/pink/quote/quote.jsp?symbol=trxaq

TRXBQ at April 30 had about 11,000 shares short
http://www.otcmarkets.com/pink/quote/quote.jsp?symbol=TRXbq

Hope this clears up a massive misunderstanding of the FINRA data.

GGP - looks like GGP still wants to go with the Brookfield offer instead of Simon. Bottom line is that the $15 covered call sale, the $15 naked put sale, a 12.5/15 call spread, or whatever play you put on counting on a $15 floor for the stock seems like it will make out just fine.

thanks. is crystal global publicly traded?

Having a brain fart here. Can someone help me fill in the blanks with the largest tio2 producers? I know tronox, HUN, KRO, DD. Thanks!

Ankit, others probably have better links but try looking here for pricing info. http://www.icis.com/v2/chemicals/9076545/titanium-dioxide/pricing.html

well, it looks to me like someone, probably a sophisticated buyer, is accumulating both the A and B shares. So, I say, "welcome." Sit back, relax and let them get full. When the time is right these boyz will be the ones to run the stock higher.

everett7, are you still buying or are you done?

GGP met the NYSE listing requirements so they reapplied.
http://www.nyse.com/regulation/nyse/1147474807344.html

http://www.businessweek.com/news/2010-04-28/tronox-wins-more-time-to-control-its-bankruptcy-case-update1-.html

Tronox -
DuPont reported good earnings this morning. I posted clip from their release over on Tronox board. TiO2 sales up up up.

http://investorshub.advfn.com/boards/read_msg.aspx?message_id=49467297

Dupont earnings release
Performance Chemicals – Sales of $1.4 billion increased $344 million, or 32 percent, reflecting a 30 percent increase in volume and 3 percent higher selling prices. The sales increase was primarily driven by strong continued recovery in titanium dioxide and fluoropolymers, with robust demand for refrigerants including strong adoption rates for ISCEON® as a preferred retrofit for R22. PTOI was $190 million, an improvement of $146 million, primarily due to higher volumes.

another article

German TiO2 plant up for sale
08 April 2010

Buyer sought for former Tronox plant seized by administrators during bankruptcy

One of Tronox LLC's former titanium dioxide (TiO2) pigment plants has been put up for sale by the administrator who seized control of the asset when the US producer went into Chapter 11
bankruptcy last year.
The 107,000 tpa sulphate plant, which now operated by Tronox Pigments GmbH and part of an entirely separate company to its former parent, is located in Uerdingen, Germany. The plant was
struggling for profitability for some time prior to the economic downturn.
“We are in the comfortable position of not having to take the first best offer,” said administrator Eberhard Stock said.
The plant was one of the first assets seeking to be sold when owned by Tronox. In 2007 the company released a statement saying that was seeking to "monetise" its only sulphate plant in
order to focus on chloride TiO2 production – a completely different process to produce the white pigment used predominately in paint and coatings.
There is a widely-held industry view that the pigment industry is slowly shifting from sulphate to chloride processing which utilises higher grade feedstocks. Tronox believed this at the time and is set to continue its focus on its chloride plants as it crawls out of administration.
Tronox’s remaining five plants are all chloride production and are seen as holding some of the most advanced in the world together with leading producer DuPont. It is important to note however that its Savannah, Georgia plant in the USA is operating at severely reduced levels at present.
Tronox was on the verge of being taken over by Huntsman Corp. at the end of 2009 but is now in control of its own destiny following a management buyout in the eleventh hour of the deal which would have made the world's second largest producer (IM February 2010: Tronox pulls out of giant TiO2 deal).

madclown here is the article. Not sure I like the part where the Germans "seized the asset..."

Germany-based titanium dioxide (TiO2) producer Tronox Pigments GmbH is running its 107,000tpa Uerdingen plant at full capacity in line with increased orders, the group said.
According to Tronox Pigments, volumes rose 80% year on year in Q1 2010, with current orders indicating growth would continue in the following quarters.
“We are significantly ahead of our forecast,” said the company’s administrator Eberhard Stock.
Tronox Pigments, which employs 550 people, reported a revenue of €120m. ($159m.) in 2009, and expects double-digit sales growth this year.
The company was formed when administrators seized the asset from US company Tronox Inc., which went into Chapter 11 bankruptcy last year.
The plant is now up for sale. “We are in the comfortable position of not having to take the first best offer,” Stock said earlier in the month (IM 8 April 2010: German TiO2 plant up for sale).

Hi everett7. I posted this a few days ago regarding the Reg SHO daily files but perhaps you missed it. http://investorshub.advfn.com/boards/read_msg.aspx?message_id=49221352

So does this mean they have settled the environmental cost with the state of Nevada and the Colorado River Authorities? Putting that to bed would be a huge plus I think. They didn't sound too happy with the company when they filed their response to the request to extend the exclusivity period. Hopefully all is well now.

http://www.kccllc.net/documents/0910156/0910156100318000000000001.pdf

I finally had a chance to call FINRA and ask about the daily short interest report. I posted what I found out over here:

http://investorshub.advfn.com/boards/read_msg.aspx?message_id=49221352

stoman23 - FINRA daily short sale report

Finally had a chance to call FINRA. The daily data for the short sales report all instances where the member firm has marked the sale as a short sale. Doesn't matter if the short is naked or not. They are all reported as such. However, here's the rub that causes this daily to become somewhat useless for us. Many times a member firm will execute a trade as a "riskless principal" transaction.

http://www.finra.org/Industry/Regulation/Guidance/p038942#302

In this case the trade is essentially broken into two parts, the member firm gets your sell order, sells the stock (short) to the market then buys the stock from you. You don't realize the difference and the trade was essentially a long holder selling stock. But, this is reported as a short sale because of the way the member firm handled it.

Periodically the member firms report their short interest in each particular stock. This reported short interest is actually the number of shares short on that particular date. This number includes both naked short sales and short sales upon which shares have been secured.

Nice work madclown! Now, how do we get the equity committee to request this disclosure?

Correct, Galen is with AHAB
I missed that. Let's hope whoever was trying to block the upward movement in the B's has been finally taken out.

stoman23, thanks.

Was your purchase on the 8th short covering? I doubt it. so I suspect the numbers dont count short initiation and covering trades combined. on the day of your example maybe all the shares you bot were sold short on the other side of the trade.

I'm gonna call FINRA and try to figure this out. perhaps once we understand the data better we can figure out a way to use it to our advantage.