been doing this for weeks ... anyone paying attention knows that there have been these after hour trades for weeks
"an actual trade" .... not really ... as you stated, the market maker has already sold the shares ... this trade just balances the books ... the seller is "shifting" the shares to the market maker so the market maker is not "short" .... but an actual trade ... not really
btw, many other people know how much is/has been traded ...
for example, the transfer agent. also uspr, the company - the company knows because the seller has to convert into shares thru/from the company ... and then of cause, anyone paying attention to these after hours balancing trades - which has been going on for weeks ... since june 23rd ... when 2 million shares traded
btw, with these balancing after hour trades, the daily volume is artificially increasing. the same shares are showing up twice. the original selling + the balancing trade.