You make some good points. The diluters know there is a finite amount of money that's going to fall for any given promotion. That's why they take over the ask after the promo and will hold it until the buyers disappear. Then they'll turn and slam into the bid.
They don't give a rat's ass what the actual tick price is, as long as they can move shares until the dollars dry up. In fact, they really don't want the tick to rise. If they let it rise, then they have to compete with flippers for that limited pool of dollars.
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