TD Ameritrade doesn't manipulate stock price, why would they? They get paid for order flow and commissions - they are not market makers.
I confirmed again today that DIAFF is still on TDA's Chill list. (explained below).
Point is that at least one of the top online brokers is still blocking buy orders while others allow orders to flow. This just injects uncertainty about the equity and also sends up red flags to other potential buyers regardless of who they use for a broker. It impacts buy side liquidity.
I'm still digging:
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In further pursuit I emailed DIAFF's transfer service and received this response from Select Fidelity Transfer Services, LTD (Ontario):
"we are not aware of any chill at DTC. Please contact your broker for more information.
Regards,
(name withheld)
Administrator
Select Fidelity Transfer Services Ltd."
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So I called DTCC and they would not disclose any information to me since I am not their direct customer. They were sorry they could not discuss it. I was advised to speak to my broker which prompted another call to TDA.
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One email response from TD Ameritrade:
"... the DTC Chill means that the firm has a lot of uncertainty and risk with clearing these trades. We will generally only allow purchases and sales on a stock that we can be certain to clear electronically through the DTCC. So, when a stock goes on a Chill, we only allow clients to sell any position they already hold. If it goes on a DTC Global lock, then we don't allow either.
Other brokerages may be allowing trades on these securities- looking at the volume, there is clearly at least one out there doing so. However, TD Ameritrade made a business decision some time ago to not allowing buy trades on a DTC Chilled stock. We apologize for the inconvenience, but we also really believe that it helps to protect both our clients and the firm. Please reply if you have any further questions.
Sincerely,
(name withheld)
Trade Resolution, TD Ameritrade
Division of TD Ameritrade, Inc. "
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On the recommendation of Southgas (thanks my friend) I opened and funded a Fidelity account. Thanks to Fidelity Customer Service I was able to place a DIAAF limit "buy" order with no problem even though I am waiting for funds to be available for online trading.
In summary, I think Diamant reported with a best effort to reflect earnings, assets, liabilities and the state of the business. I also trust TD Ameritrade as a broker. Do I suspect price manipulation? (I'll let you know.) I'm very patient and accumulating.
