OldTymer, part of the market making section of your post is confusing to me, not the part about covering in a MOASS, just every day "making a market."
You stated that if there were no shares available to buy, that the MMs would be forced to create bogus shares in order to create a market. (I'm several hundred posts behind, so maybe this will be addressed somewhere between where I am now and the posts for Sunday morning.)
My understanding of the way the market is supposed to operate, is that it is based on supply and demand. If the demand is high, then the price goes up. If these MMs wanted to operate legitimately all along - in ANY stock - then why would they not keep increasing the bid until someone was willing to sell?
denise