re: "when a stock tanks for no reason there is obviously something wrong,..."
Yes, but not with the company. It could often as not, mean that a fund wielder is trying to create the impression that something is wrong, by dumping shares (not necessarily short but usually) to ward off would-be buyers and scare holders into selling. According to Cramer, they'd also launch a whispering or misinformation campaign to help things along.
The idea is to sell enough to knock the stock on its derrier and then while the hapless retails are standing by, rooting around for news, wondering what happened, they cover (if necessary) and make their buys before anybody else can get back in. That is, if the maestro thinks the stock has some pending catalyst to go up.
Otherwise it's the same old story about wrecking the possibilty for equity financing (or recovery from toxic convertible financing) such that the little target company goes bk and the orchestrators never have to cover.
But I don't think that's what we have here. It just looks like a normal retracement so far. In fact, I'd venture to say we are in the process of completing a consolidation pattern.
I half expect that maybe somebody will try a dump to knock some shares loose, at some point, but I doubt that there is much ammo for that or that if it fails whether the chances for covering or even getting any net shares would be worthwhile for them.
Theoretically a short would be otherwise pessimistic for a company to survive, in the case that he doesn't actually want shares, but with mosh, viability doesn't have anything to do with unit price. They have their properties, royalty income is coming back on line, units will revert to something reflecting intrinsic value regardless of what happens with the larger big money lawsuit issue. There is no dilution issue. Jacking around the share price wouldn't really "accomplish" anything.
Unless...
I keep coming back to the idea of - is there anything that prevents pxd from trying to buy mosh? On the open market? Maybe through a proxy? Any units they got would be essentially paying themselves that portion of any potencial settlement. Of cource their official policy now seems to be that they aren't interested in the GOM any more, so kind of a contradiction there. Then there's the hedge factor, also a potencial hedge for retail pxd holders. How many of them figure zero risk? Hard to say. The official position is "What, me worry?"
Either way, however many or few, they would be holding until the "fat lady sings". Most of us, um, "speculators" and investors, are holding & long time holders have no reason to sell now...
So that leaves us with MM, some who may or may not be aware of developments. So far as my understanding goes, they normally just take shares people hand them on the bid then turn them around, ho hum, and sell them back out on the ask, pocketing the spread. Normally they would want to keep some activity going. Things slow down, maybe price too high?, drop the ask, try to attract some buyers...
With the dimishing daily volumes I wonder if fewer and fewer units are "circulating" this way. Shares going out on the ask are "disappearing". Hardly anybody is selling back on the bid. Except for the forefront two with blocks around todays closing price, maybe those others sitting on asks .28 and above are beginning to wonder whats up (or are getting a clue)...
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