Agree with you that there could be some unconverted notes out there. But those do not to the MMs any good at the current PPS. A share converted at .006 is still more costly than a share at .0048, which could be the sale the MM is trying to cover.
Can't speak for others, but when I refer to MMs being upside down, it refers to being in a position where they owe shares to other parties, as opposed to being actively short. BBRW stock ran from the 003s (last week) to around .011 (yesterday). Along the way, MMs get calls from retail brokers and they fill the orders because they want to continue to get business. Usually, when a stock isn't climbing rapidly, that's not a problem. But during a rapid price climb, CDEL and whoever else ends up selling more shares than they have, if the price has continued to rise it exacerbates the problem, making it even more expensive for the MM to buy the shares they owe someone to settle. Unless that MM/a group of MMs can walk down the price through actions like large block orders, narrowing/widening the ask/bid spread artificially, etc. All stuff that has the goal of cooling off investors' interest, helping the PPS to drop, and making it easier to settle positions with less of/no loss, whether those shares are from shaking out retail or purchased directly from noteholders.
I don't know how truly widespread this type of thing is and none of us is sure what is happening/will happen with BBRW. My take is that there is some MM tamping down of the price happening, plus the natural forces of investor waning slightly given that we haven't had any PRs/IG posts, several days until O/S update, a couple weeks until earnings (if filed timely), etc.
One side note, I've heard it repeated here that BBRW can't engage in the buyback while any dilution is occuring. Besides an explanation of why lenders might not like that, I'm not convinced that this is a legit rule as opposed to an ihub old wives' tale. Buying back shares during a period when new shares are issued (or converted) seems to have a lot of precedent in public companies, so not sure if it's an OTC req or if there's a FINRA reg or something that someone can post.
