Global Ecology Corporation (GLEC)

[arbpro]

Well, I guess if it goes to $10/share, it's a heck of a return

Actually, no it wouldn't. You need to pay a commission to buy the share and a commission to sell it. So your proceeds if it goes to 10 dollars, is 10 dollars. To buy the one share would cost you at least 7 dollars and likewise to sell it. So you would sustain a 4 dollar loss even if it went to 10 dollars.

There are 3 reasons for a trade of this nature (and I think this is about the 5th time I have answered this question).
1. It paints the chart; ie, all future graphing of the company will reflect that on this day the stock traded at a low of .0085. The casual observer of the graph might not notice that the volume at that low was a meaningless one share. Why does this matter? Because there are a lot of people that buy/sell stocks based solely upon charting. Whoever is trying to "paint the tape" is trying to influence trading by creating the false impression that trading occurred at a certain low or high. My opinion is that anyone making trade decisions of a penny stock, based upon charting, is crazy. But to each their own.
2. Someone is trying to set up trading for the next day. This is particularly true, of a stock with a large gap between the bid/ask. For instance, if the bid is .008 and the ask is .009, someone seeking to sell shares might actually make a small purchase of shares at .009, hoping that the closing price of .009 sets the stage for the next day. If it does then the price for the small buy is extremely outweighed by the proceeds received from a sale of the next day at .009 or higher.
3. A market maker is just jacking around because he's bored or because he derives joy in thinking that overnight portfolios are significantly affected by a one share trade.

Of these choices the most likely for today's trade is Number 3 and
a market maker just decides to get everybody talking about "why would anyone make a one share trade?". He might even read this Board and smile when people ask, "Why?" No reason, except he just wanted to. The trade costs a market maker as low as 40 cents, so no big deal. Also note, that all other options favor a trade during the last few minutes of the market opening. Making the trade just before market closing insures that it will be the closing price which is the idea to affect future trading. But this trade happened in the middle of the day, so likely wasn't done in hopes that it would be the closing price. Most likely - a market maker just jacking around.