Excellent information and well explained - thank you as always Donk.
We do know for a fact that there were ~2.3 million shorts on the TSX. I am told by my broker here in Toronto that this number combines both naked and legal shorts - just don't know how many of each (that is not published in a broken down format).
The dots I connect and assumptions I make are as follows;
1) TSX.V LEGAL shorts are easily converted to LEGAL shorts on the Nasdaq following de-list. I do not recall seeing the Nasdaq short position materially change in the last 4 months - does anyone else? This leads me to believe that the bulk of those 2.3M TSX.V shorts were naked.
2) It has been made known to me that Mgmt has been "troubled" by the shorts and the games being played for some time now. For them to take the time and trouble to do the name change and provoke the new CUSIP# leads me to believe that the Mgmt knows how many are naked, and that again it is likely to be the bulk of those 2.3 million. Is there any other reasonable explanation for them to have taken this action??
This is not a management team that has a record of doing anything impulsively. They under promise and over deliver, they only announce material items when they are complete, they plan strategically, carefully, with stealth, and with purpose.
It would not surprise me in the least that the CUSIP change was carefully planned AND TIMED to inflict maximum damage (re; the end of the very nasty and roundly disliked ANSON Group). This also leads me to believe that there indeed may be a couple more surprises in store from Sphere as we head to the deadline for accountability of shares.
