david........not that it matters that much here, but i disagree with you, regarding shorting(and the possible effect)- The shorting would have some effect on the stock price, but the actual price movement is also dependent on what the other volume is doing- buying or selling.... today, for example, you could have had the shorting early(361000 shares), taking the price down, causing other selling to drive the price further- then some short covering to keep the price at the current level(since the total short number dropped, there would have been some covering)... there is still over 2mil total short....