Do we really know that the MMs are responsible for the selling (as shorts)? After all, all of our buys and sells go through MMS, so when we see one sitting on a bid or ask how do we know those aren't just retail orders out there? Don't get me wrong - I know MMs make money, and I believe they engage in shorting and various tactics on chat boards to encourage the price to move one way or the other, but I have read that the info available on short positions in the stock is not very helpful for knowing what is really going on.
My sense is that across the board penny stocks have been very very weak for the last couple of months, and I have long suspected that MMS collude with each other to 'encourage' price movement on the general penny market several times a year. If they succeed they can make an absolute killing. One tactic they might deploy is large price spreads, which discourages buying and can encourage panic selling.
So, while I suspect they ARE affecting the CCLX price, I have doubts that they are doing anything different here than on other stocks, and I have doubts about the idea that they have been shorting the stock since last fall. Maybe for the last couple months, but even there I'm not sure we have enough info to say for sure - it would make sense though if their objective is to 'encourage' the price to go down so that when the time is right they can load up on shares and then 'encourage' the pennies to go up.
WHY ELSE are penny stocks across the board weak when the general market AND the tech rich Nasdaq has been doing very well (up until the last week)?
VERY HARD to fight and win against MMS if in fact they are colluding and shorting. I actually hope it is just retail selling by folks that fell for the latest promo, because then any positive news will just do the opposite and bring in the buyers. OTOH if there IS shorting and enough positive retail demand we COULD get a short squeeze, which would be very sweet indeed.
