I agree with you but positions are all relative. By number most of Claude's holders are well under a 100k shares so if someone bought near but not at the low, say a 30 cent average, they still could sell .90 cad for 200% and the spread isn't really much of a factor. $2500 invested would be $7500, not a bad profit % for a pretty rough year for most. What is meaningful is up to the individual and there are millions of folks who would consider even a $5000 windfall to be meaningful. About half of north Americans have no savings let alone stock wealth and lots of Canadians own Claude (and others) in TFSAs, which because of the lack of taxes, encourages small trades and speculating in juniors since they often have a compelling risk/reward to earn large sums of now tax free wealth. If someone bought at .75 and wants to sell .90 that's a different story.
If you wanted to take profits from a stack of millions of shares it could still be done, it just needs lots of staggered/layered sell orders of medium to small amounts done over days/weeks/months. Not ideal but possible. The idea isn't to exit the stock ASAP and destroy the market but to skim a bit of profit. Since the position is so large trimming or hedging it may be a prudent thing to do, even at the cost of future profits, especially if it is hugely in the money.
Some people are myopic while others are far sighted, there is a time for both mindsets to shine and there is no sense being locked into just one when having eyes open can allow you to benefit from both perspectives. Personally I think prudence is the arbiter more than a mindset of being long or short. I have seen a lot of people blinded by this and have been myself on numerous occasions.
Claude should get themselves over 100k oz a year and then declare a modest dividend and then the stock would rise and more folks would hold for income and long term capital gains instead of trading for it. Guidance is low this year, right where it should be. Under-promise and over-deliver.
