M6 - Man, Mind, Money, Markets, Method & Madness

DSM

Well-Known Member

Out of habit, had put on my terminal, had the chart set up on, and was waiting for the market to start.... :) Did not realize it was a trading holiday!! Yay. Off to see a movie.
:)
 

DSM

Well-Known Member
The Deadly Art of Stock Manipulation - George Chelekis Part I

http://iasw-after-all.blogspot.in/2010/06/deadly-art-of-stock-manipulation.html

In every profession, there are probably a dozen or two major rules. Knowing them cold is what separates the professional from the amateur. In order to successfully speculate, one should presume the following: THE SMALL CAP STOCK MARKETS PRIMARILY EXIST TO FLEECE YOU! I'm talking about Vancouver, Alberta, the Canadian Dealing Network and the US Over-the Counter markets (Pink Sheets, Bulletin Board, etc.). One could also stretch this, with many stocks, to include the world's senior stock markets, including Toronto, New York, NASDAQ, London, etc. The average investor or speculator is not very likely to have much success in the small cap crapshoots. I guess that is what attracted ME to these markets. I have been trying, for quite some time, to answer this question, "How come?" Now, I know. And you should, too!

By the way, the premise of these books is uniformly: "While these speculative companies do not actually make any money, one can profit by speculating in these companies." THAT is the premise on how these markets are run, by both the stock promoters, insiders, brokers, analysts and others in this industry. That logic is flawed in that it presumes "someone else" is going to end up holding the dirty bag. Follow this premise all the way through and you will realize the insane conclusion: For these markets to continue along that route, new suckers have to continue coming into the marketplace. The conclusion is insane in that such mad activity can only be short-lived. I disagree with this premise and propose another solution (see my earlier essay: A Modest Proposal) at the end of this essay.

What the professionals and the securities regulators know and understand, which the rest of us do not, is this.

"RULE NUMBER ONE: ALL SHARP PRICE MOVEMENTS -- WHETHER UP OR DOWN -- ARE THE RESULT OF ONE OR MORE (USUALLY A GROUP OF) PROFESSIONALS MANIPULATING THE SHARE PRICE."
This should explain why a mining company finds something good and "nothing happens" or the stock goes down. At the same time, for NO apparent reason, a stock suddenly takes off for the sky! On little volume! Someone is manipulating that stock, often with an unfounded rumor.

In order to make these market manipulations work, the professionals assume: (a) The Public is STUPID and (b) The Public will mainly buy at the HIGH and (c) The Public will sell at the LOW.
Therefore, as long as the market manipulator can run crowd control, he can be successful.

Let's face it: The reason you speculate in such markets is that you are greedy AND optimistic. You believe in a better tomorrow and NEED to make money quickly. It is this sentiment which is exploited by the market manipulator. He controls YOUR greed and fear about a particular stock.
If he wants you to buy, the company's prospects look like the next Microsoft. If the manipulator wants you to desert the sinking ship, he suddenly becomes very guarded in his remarks about the company, isn't around to glowingly answer questions about the company and/or GETS issued very bad news about the company. Which brings us to the next important rule.

"RULE NUMBER TWO: IF THE MARKET MANIPULATOR WANTS TO DISTRIBUTE (DUMP) HIS SHARES, HE WILL START A GOOD NEWS PROMOTIONAL CAMPAIGN."
Ever wonder why a particular company is made to look like the greatest thing since sliced bread? That sentiment is manufactured.
Newsletter writers are hired -- either secretly or not -- to cheerlead a stock. PR firms are hired and let loose upon an unsuspecting public. Contracts to appear on radio talk shows are signed and implemented. Stockbrokers get "cheap" stock to recommend the company to their "book" (that means YOU, the client in his book). An advertising campaign is rolled out (television ads, newspaper ads, card deck mailings). The company signs up to exhibit at "investment conferences" and "gold shows" (mainly so they can get a little "podium time" to hype you on their stock and tell you how "their company is really different" and "not a stock promotion.") Funny little "hype" messages are posted on Internet newsgroups by the same cast of usual suspects. The more, the merrier. And a little "juice" can go a long way toward running up the stock price.

The HYPE is on. The more clever a stock promoter, the better his knowledge of the advertising business. Little gimmicks like "positioning" are used. Example: Make a completely unknown company look warm and fuzzy and appealing to you by comparing it to a recent success story, Diamond Fields or Bre-X Minerals. That is the POSITIONING gospel, authored by Ries and Trout (famous for "Avis: We Want To Be #1" and "We Try Harder" and other such slogans). These advertising/PR executives must have stumbled onto this formula after losing their shirts speculating in a few Canadian stock promotions! The only reason you have been invited to this seemingly incredible banquet is that YOU are the main course. After the market manipulator has suckered you into "his investment," exchanging HIS paper for YOUR cash, the walls begin to close in on you. Why is that?

"RULE NUMBER THREE: AS SOON AS THE MARKET MANIPULATOR HAS COMPLETED HIS DISTRIBUTION (DUMPING) OF SHARES, HE WILL START A BAD NEWS OR NO NEWS CAMPAIGN."
Your favorite home-run stock has just stalled or retreated a bit from its high. Suddenly, there is a news VACUUM. Either NO news or BAD rumors. I discovered this with quite a few stocks. I would get LOADS of information and "hot tips." All of a sudden, my pipeline was shut-off. Some companies would even issue a news release CONDEMNING me ("We don't need 'that kind of hype' referring to me!). Cute, huh? When the company wanted fantastic hype circulated hither and yon, there would be someone there to spoon-feed me. The second the distribution phase was DONE....ooops! Sorry, no more news. Or, "I'm sorry. He's not in the office." Or, "He won't be back until Monday."

The really slick market manipulators would even seed the Internet news groups or other journalists to plant negative stories about that company. Or start a propaganda campaign of negative rumors on all available communication vehicles. Even hiring a "contrarian" or "special PR firm" to drive down the price. Even hiring someone to attack the guy who had earlier written glowingly about the company. (This is not a game for the faint-hearted!)

You'll also see the stock drifting endlessly. You may even experience a helpless feeling, as if you were floating in outer space without a lifeline. That is exactly HOW the market manipulator wants you to feel.
He may also be doing this to avoid the severe disappointment of a "dry hole" or a "failed deal." You'll hear that oft-cried refrain, "Oh well, that's the junior minerals exploration business... very risky!" Or the oft-quoted statistic, "Nine out of 10 businesses fail each year and this IS a Venture Capital Startup stock exchange." Don't think it wasn't contrived. If a geologist at a junior mining company wasn't optimistic and rosy in his promise of exploration success, he would be replaced by someone who was! Ditto for the high-tech deal, in a world awash with PhD's.

So, how do you know when you are being taken? Look again at Rule #1. Inside that rule, a few other rules unfold which explain how a stock price is manipulated.

Part II to follow
 

amitrandive

Well-Known Member
Shree Ashtavinayak shows what’s wrong with Indian market
http://moneylife.in/article/shree-ashtavinayak-shows-whats-wrong-with-indian-market/37024.html

The stock price of loss-making Shree Ashtavinayak has shot up 128% in just eight trading days. The promoters hold just 0.54% and so-called FIIs 7.93%. Is SEBI aware of the obvious manipulation and possible money laundering?

On 31 March 2014, the shares of Shree Ashtavinayak Cine Vision Ltd, (Shree Ashtavinayak) hit a 52-week low at Rs0.46. After this, it started moving up ferociously and in just eight trading days the stock has gained 128% to Rs1.05 on 11th April on the BSE. Trading volumes have exploded. On 31st March, the volume of shares traded was 2.93 lakh shares, which kept on increasing and on 10th March, volumes grew more than 10 times to 33.86 lakh.

What's driving the stock price? Or, is it another blatant case of price manipulation, that market regulator Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) cannot see?

The company is making large losses. During December 2013 quarter, Shree Ashtavinayak recorded net loss of Rs4.27 crore compared with Rs3.26 crore of loss a year ago. In the September 2013 quarter, it recorded a humongous Rs43.19 crore of loss. The promoter stake in the company is negligible at 0.54%. Guess what? So-called foreign institutional investors (FII) hold 7.93% in this penny stock, leaving 91.53% with the public, as on 31st December 2013. Is this some kind of joke?

According to market sources Shree Ashtavinayak has always been seen as an 'operator-driven' stock. The share prices of this film production company has always been driven up and down on rumours and unconnected to its fundamentals.

On 14 January 2011, the stock price closed at Rs5.36. This was the first upward move since 25 November 2010. And in the six trading sessions since 14th January, the stock gained 33% to Rs7.15. This is in sharp contrast to the 90% fall in two months till 14 January 2011.

In February 2010, the stock price slipped from Rs33 and was locked in the lower circuit for days, till it settled at Rs11 on 11th March. It languished at Rs11-15 levels between March and July last year, then started to move upwards, apparently on rumours that the company would earn a bumper profit from the distribution of 3 Idiots.

This is one stock that reflects all that is wrong with stock market supervision.

• Operators can rig stock prices at will in India. There is no investigation
• The FII route has long been suspected of money laundering and round-tripping. This case almost proves it. Why would “FIIs” be holding 7.93% shares in a penny stock, where “promoters” hold just 0.54%?
• The market regulator SEBI is getting more powers and money to act like the police – search, seize, detain, freeze assets etc but has been found to be failing to monitor obvious cases of price manipulation.
• SEBI has blown up over Rs40 crore in installing Intermarket Surveillance System under successive chairmen from M Damodaran to Mr UK Sinha but can be bothered by such obvious cases of price rigging.
 

DSM

Well-Known Member
The Zurich Axioms - Part III

Major Axiom 5 :- On Patterns - The Emperor Axiom
Chaos is not dangerous until it begins to look orderly.


Do not look for order where order does not exist. Do not overlook the large role chance takes in any speculation. Study information in whatever speculative medium to improve chances and take your best shot. Stay light on your feet ready to jump this way or that. You are dealing with chaos, as long as you are alert to that fact you can keep yourself from getting hurt.

Internal Monolog goes:
OK. I've done my homework as well as I know how. I think this bet can pay off for me. But since I cannot see or control all the random events that will affect what happens to my money. I know the chance of me being wrong is large. Therefore I will stay light on my feet, ready to jump this way or that when whatever is going to happen happens."


Minor Axiom V
Beware the historians trap.
The Historian's trap is a particular kind of orderly illusion. It is based on the age-old but entirely unwarranted belief that history repeats itself. People who hold this belief - which is to say perhaps ninety-nine out of every hundred people on earth - believe as a corollary proposition that the orderly repetition of history allows for accurate forecasting in certain situations.... Don't fall into this trap. It is true that history repeats itself sometimes, but most often it doesn't, and in any case it never does so in a reliable enough way that you can prudently bet money on it.

Minor Axiom Vl
Beware the Chartist's illusion.

This is defined as characteristic of human minds to perceive links of cause and effect where none exist.

Minor Axiom Vll
Beware the correlation and causality delusions.

Correlations and causalities are used to report findings in experiments and social studies. Most people use the two as if they are interchangeable, and, while a causality is a correlation, mistaking a correlation with a cause-effect relationship is a logical fallacy. Knowing the difference between the two is important for properly interpreting the results of experiments and studies.

Minor Axiom Vlll
Beware the Gambler's Fallacy.

This is my lucky day.



The Zurich Axioms...... continued

Major Axiom 3 :- On Hope
When the ship starts to sink, don't pray. Jump.


Learning to take losses is an essential speculative technique. MOST never learn it. Take losses at once and move on. Take small losses to protect yourself from the big ones.

Beware of the 3 obstacles to jumping ship:
- fear of regret ( that the loser will turn out to be a winner when you've bailed-out )
- Unwillingness to abandon part of an investment ( become willing to abandon )
- Difficulty of admitting you made a mistake.

Minor Axiom lV
Accept small losses cheerfully as a fact of life. Expect to experience several while awaiting a large gain.


***

Major Axiom 4 :- On Forecasts
Human behavior cannot be predicted. Distrust anyone who claims to know the future, however dimly.


Nobody has the foggiest notion of what will happen in the future. Nobody. Never lose sight of the possibility you have made a bad bet.
 

DSM

Well-Known Member

DSM

Well-Known Member
The Zurich Axioms - Part IV

Major Axiom 6 :- On Mobility
Avoid putting down roots. They impede motion.


Be ready to jump away from trouble or seize opportunity. You do not have to bounce from one speculation to another like a ping-pong ball. All your moves should be made only after a careful assessment of the odds for and against, and no move should be made for trivial reasons. But when a venture is clearly souring, or when something clearly more promising comes into view, then you must sever those roots and go. Don't let the roots get too thick to cut.

Minor Axiom lX
Do not become trapped in a souring venture because of sentiments like loyalty and nostalgia.

Minor Axiom X
Never hesitate to abandon a venture of something more attractive comes into view.


Major Axiom 7 :- On Intuition
A hunch can be trusted if it can be explained.


Though intuition is not infallible, it can be a useful speculative tool, if handled with care and skepticism. If you are hit by strong hunch - put it to the test. Trust it only if you can explained it. That is only if you can identify within your mind a stored body of information out of which that hunch must reasonably be supposed to have arisen. Be wary of any intuition that seems to promise some outcome you want badly.

Minor Axiom Xl
Never confuse a hunch with a hope.


Major Axiom 8 :- On Religion and the Occult
It is unlikely that god's plan for the universe includes making you rich.


Assume you are on your own. Rely on nothing but your own wits.

Minor Axiom Xll
If astrology worked, all astrologers would be rich.

Minor Axiom Xlll
A superstition need not be exorcised. It can be enjoyed, provided it is kept in its place.


***

The Zurich Axioms - Part III

Major Axiom 5 :- On Patterns - The Emperor Axiom
Chaos is not dangerous until it begins to look orderly.


Do not look for order where order does not exist. Do not overlook the large role chance takes in any speculation. Study information in whatever speculative medium to improve chances and take your best shot. Stay light on your feet ready to jump this way or that. You are dealing with chaos, as long as you are alert to that fact you can keep yourself from getting hurt.

Internal Monolog goes:
OK. I've done my homework as well as I know how. I think this bet can pay off for me. But since I cannot see or control all the random events that will affect what happens to my money. I know the chance of me being wrong is large. Therefore I will stay light on my feet, ready to jump this way or that when whatever is going to happen happens."


Minor Axiom V
Beware the historians trap.
The Historian's trap is a particular kind of orderly illusion. It is based on the age-old but entirely unwarranted belief that history repeats itself. People who hold this belief - which is to say perhaps ninety-nine out of every hundred people on earth - believe as a corollary proposition that the orderly repetition of history allows for accurate forecasting in certain situations.... Don't fall into this trap. It is true that history repeats itself sometimes, but most often it doesn't, and in any case it never does so in a reliable enough way that you can prudently bet money on it.

Minor Axiom Vl
Beware the Chartist's illusion.

This is defined as characteristic of human minds to perceive links of cause and effect where none exist.

Minor Axiom Vll
Beware the correlation and causality delusions.

Correlations and causalities are used to report findings in experiments and social studies. Most people use the two as if they are interchangeable, and, while a causality is a correlation, mistaking a correlation with a cause-effect relationship is a logical fallacy. Knowing the difference between the two is important for properly interpreting the results of experiments and studies.

Minor Axiom Vlll
Beware the Gambler's Fallacy.

This is my lucky day.
 

DSM

Well-Known Member
The Deadly Art of Stock Manipulation - George Chelekis Part II

http://iasw-after-all.blogspot.in/2010/06/deadly-art-of-stock-manipulation.html

"RULE NUMBER FOUR: ANY STOCK THAT TRADES HUGE VOLUME AT HIGHER PRICES SIGNALS THE DISTRIBUTION PHASE." (??? My Note : This is ofcourse contrary to conventional wisdom)

When there was less volume, the price was lower. Professionals were accumulating. After the price runs, the volume increases. The professionals bought low and sold high. The amateurs bought high (and will soon enough sell low). In older books about market manipulation and stock promotion, which I've recently studied, the markup price referred to THREE times higher than the floor. The floor is the launchpad for the stock. For example, if one looks at the stock price and finds a steady flatline on the stock's chart of around 10 cents, then that range is the FLOOR. Basically, the markup phase can go as high as the market manipulator is capable of taking it. From my observations, a good markup should be able to run about five to ten times higher than the floor, with six to seven being common. The market manipulator will do everything in his power to keep you OUT OF THE STOCK until the share price has been marked up by at least two-three times, sometimes resorting to "shaking you out" until after he has accumulated enough shares. Once the markup has begun, the stock chart will show you one or more spikes in the volume -- all at much higher prices (marked up by the manipulator, of course). That is DISTRIBUTION and nothing else.

Example: Look at Software Control Systems (Alberta:XVN), in which I purchased shares after it had been marked up five times. There were eight days of 500,000 (plus) shares trading hands, with one day of 750,000 shares trading hands. Market manipulator(s) dumping shares into the volume at higher prices. WHENEVER you see HUGE volume after the stock has risen on a 75 degree angle, the distribution phase has started and you are likely to be buying in -- at or near the stock's peak price.

Example: Look at Diamond Fields (TSEFR), which never increased at a 75 degree angle and did not have abnormal volume spikes, yet in less than two years ran from C$4 to C$160/share.

Example: Look at Bre-X Minerals (Alberta:BXM), which did not experience its first 75 degree angle, with huge volume until July 14th, 1995. The next two trading days, BXM went down and stayed around C$12/share for two weeks. The volume had been 60% higher nearly a month earlier, with only a slight price increase. Each high volume and spectacular increase in BXM's share price was met with a price retreat and leveling off. "Suddenly," BXM wasn't trading at C$2/share; it was at C$170/share.... up 8500% in less than a year!

In both of the above cases, major Canadian newspapers ran extremely negative stories about both companies, at one time or another. In each instance, just before another share price run up, retail investors fled the stock! Just before both began yet another run up! Successful short-term speculators generally exit any stock run up when the volume soars; amateurs get greedy and buy at those points.

"RULE NUMBER FIVE: THE MARKET MANIPULATOR WILL ALWAYS TRY TO GET YOU TO BUY AT THE HIGHEST, AND SELL AT THE LOWEST PRICE POSSIBLE."

Just as the manipulator will use every available means to invite you to "the party," he will savagely and brutally drive you away from "his stock" when he has fleeced you. The first falsehood you assume is that the stock promoter WANTS you to make a bundle by investing in his company. So begins a string of lies that run for as long as your stomach can take it.

You will get the first clue that "you have been had" when the stock stalls at the higher level. Somehow, it ran out of steam and you are not sure why. Well, it ran out of steam because the market manipulator stopped running it up. It's over inflated and he can't convince more people to buy. The volume dries up while the share price seems to stall. LOOK AT THE TRADING VOLUME, NOT THE SHARE PRICE! When earlier, there may have been 500,000 shares trading each day for eight out of 12 trading days (as in the case of Software Control Systems), now the volume has slipped to 100,000 shares (or so) daily. There are some buyers there, enough for the manipulator to continue dumping his paper, but only so long as he can enlist one or more individuals/services to bang his drum.


He may continue feeding the promo guys a string of "promises" and "good news down the road." (Believe me, this HAS happened to me!) But, when the news finally arrives, the stock price goes THUD! This is entirely orchestrated by a market manipulator. You'll see it in the trading volume, most of which is CONTRIVED. A market manipulator will have various brokers buying and selling the stock to give the APPEARANCE of increasing volume and price so that YOU do start chasing it higher.

At some point during the stall stage, investors get fed up with the non-performance of the stock. It drifts for a while, in a steady retreat, with perhaps a short-lived spike in price and volume (the final signal that the manipulator has finally offloaded ALL of his paper). Then, the stock comes tumbling down -- having lost ALL of the earlier share appreciation.

Sometimes, with the more cruel manipulators, they will throw in a little false hope... giving you a little more rope so they can better hang you. Just after a severe drop, there will be a "bottom fishing" announcement which sends the share price up a bit on high volume, rises a little more after that and then continues to drift. Meanwhile, you keep getting "shaken out" through a cruel drip-drip water torture of the share price's slow retreat. Again, virtually every movement is completely orchestrated.

"RULE NUMBER SIX: IF THIS IS A REAL DEAL, THEN YOU ARE LIKELY TO BE THE LAST PERSON TO BE NOTIFIED OR WILL BE DRIVEN OUT AT THE LOWER PRICES."

Like Jesse Livermore wrote, "If there's some easy money lying around, no one is going to force it into your pocket." The same concept can be more clearly understood by watching the tape. When a market manipulator wants you into his stock, you will hear LOUD noises of stock promotion and hype. If you are "in the loop," you will be bombarded from many directions. Similarly, if he wants you out of the stock, then there will be orchestrated rumors being circulated, rapid-fired at you again from many directions. Just as good news may come to you in waves, so will bad news.

You will see evidence of a VERY sharp drop in the share price with HUGE volume. That is you and your buddies running for the exits. If the deal is really for real, the market manipulator wants to get ALL OF YOUR SHARES or as many as he can... and at the lowest price he can. Whereas before, he wanted you IN his market, so he could dump his shares to you at a higher price, NOW when he sees that this deal IS for real, he wants to pay as little as possible for those same shares... YOUR shares which he wants to you part with, as quickly as possible.

The market manipulator will shake you out by DRIVING the price as low as he can. Just as in the "accumulation" stage, he wants to keep everything as quiet as possible so he can snap up as many of the shares for himself, he will NOW turn down, or even turn off, the volume so he can repeat the accumulation phase.

In the mining business, there seems to always be another "area play" around the corner. Just as Voisey's Bay drifted into oblivion, during the fourth quarter of 1995 and early into 1996, the same Voisey Bay "wannabees" began striking deals in Indonesia. Some even used new corporate entities. Same crooks, different shingles. The accumulation phase was TOP SECRET. The noise level was deadingly silent. As soon as the insiders accumulated all their shares, they let YOU in on the secret.

The Deadly Art of Stock Manipulation - George Chelekis Part I

http://iasw-after-all.blogspot.in/2010/06/deadly-art-of-stock-manipulation.html

In every profession, there are probably a dozen or two major rules. Knowing them cold is what separates the professional from the amateur. In order to successfully speculate, one should presume the following: THE SMALL CAP STOCK MARKETS PRIMARILY EXIST TO FLEECE YOU! I'm talking about Vancouver, Alberta, the Canadian Dealing Network and the US Over-the Counter markets (Pink Sheets, Bulletin Board, etc.). One could also stretch this, with many stocks, to include the world's senior stock markets, including Toronto, New York, NASDAQ, London, etc. The average investor or speculator is not very likely to have much success in the small cap crapshoots. I guess that is what attracted ME to these markets. I have been trying, for quite some time, to answer this question, "How come?" Now, I know. And you should, too!

By the way, the premise of these books is uniformly: "While these speculative companies do not actually make any money, one can profit by speculating in these companies." THAT is the premise on how these markets are run, by both the stock promoters, insiders, brokers, analysts and others in this industry. That logic is flawed in that it presumes "someone else" is going to end up holding the dirty bag. Follow this premise all the way through and you will realize the insane conclusion: For these markets to continue along that route, new suckers have to continue coming into the marketplace. The conclusion is insane in that such mad activity can only be short-lived. I disagree with this premise and propose another solution (see my earlier essay: A Modest Proposal) at the end of this essay.

What the professionals and the securities regulators know and understand, which the rest of us do not, is this.

"RULE NUMBER ONE: ALL SHARP PRICE MOVEMENTS -- WHETHER UP OR DOWN -- ARE THE RESULT OF ONE OR MORE (USUALLY A GROUP OF) PROFESSIONALS MANIPULATING THE SHARE PRICE."
This should explain why a mining company finds something good and "nothing happens" or the stock goes down. At the same time, for NO apparent reason, a stock suddenly takes off for the sky! On little volume! Someone is manipulating that stock, often with an unfounded rumor.

In order to make these market manipulations work, the professionals assume: (a) The Public is STUPID and (b) The Public will mainly buy at the HIGH and (c) The Public will sell at the LOW.
Therefore, as long as the market manipulator can run crowd control, he can be successful.

Let's face it: The reason you speculate in such markets is that you are greedy AND optimistic. You believe in a better tomorrow and NEED to make money quickly. It is this sentiment which is exploited by the market manipulator. He controls YOUR greed and fear about a particular stock.
If he wants you to buy, the company's prospects look like the next Microsoft. If the manipulator wants you to desert the sinking ship, he suddenly becomes very guarded in his remarks about the company, isn't around to glowingly answer questions about the company and/or GETS issued very bad news about the company. Which brings us to the next important rule.

"RULE NUMBER TWO: IF THE MARKET MANIPULATOR WANTS TO DISTRIBUTE (DUMP) HIS SHARES, HE WILL START A GOOD NEWS PROMOTIONAL CAMPAIGN."
Ever wonder why a particular company is made to look like the greatest thing since sliced bread? That sentiment is manufactured.
Newsletter writers are hired -- either secretly or not -- to cheerlead a stock. PR firms are hired and let loose upon an unsuspecting public. Contracts to appear on radio talk shows are signed and implemented. Stockbrokers get "cheap" stock to recommend the company to their "book" (that means YOU, the client in his book). An advertising campaign is rolled out (television ads, newspaper ads, card deck mailings). The company signs up to exhibit at "investment conferences" and "gold shows" (mainly so they can get a little "podium time" to hype you on their stock and tell you how "their company is really different" and "not a stock promotion.") Funny little "hype" messages are posted on Internet newsgroups by the same cast of usual suspects. The more, the merrier. And a little "juice" can go a long way toward running up the stock price.

The HYPE is on. The more clever a stock promoter, the better his knowledge of the advertising business. Little gimmicks like "positioning" are used. Example: Make a completely unknown company look warm and fuzzy and appealing to you by comparing it to a recent success story, Diamond Fields or Bre-X Minerals. That is the POSITIONING gospel, authored by Ries and Trout (famous for "Avis: We Want To Be #1" and "We Try Harder" and other such slogans). These advertising/PR executives must have stumbled onto this formula after losing their shirts speculating in a few Canadian stock promotions! The only reason you have been invited to this seemingly incredible banquet is that YOU are the main course. After the market manipulator has suckered you into "his investment," exchanging HIS paper for YOUR cash, the walls begin to close in on you. Why is that?

"RULE NUMBER THREE: AS SOON AS THE MARKET MANIPULATOR HAS COMPLETED HIS DISTRIBUTION (DUMPING) OF SHARES, HE WILL START A BAD NEWS OR NO NEWS CAMPAIGN."
Your favorite home-run stock has just stalled or retreated a bit from its high. Suddenly, there is a news VACUUM. Either NO news or BAD rumors. I discovered this with quite a few stocks. I would get LOADS of information and "hot tips." All of a sudden, my pipeline was shut-off. Some companies would even issue a news release CONDEMNING me ("We don't need 'that kind of hype' referring to me!). Cute, huh? When the company wanted fantastic hype circulated hither and yon, there would be someone there to spoon-feed me. The second the distribution phase was DONE....ooops! Sorry, no more news. Or, "I'm sorry. He's not in the office." Or, "He won't be back until Monday."

The really slick market manipulators would even seed the Internet news groups or other journalists to plant negative stories about that company. Or start a propaganda campaign of negative rumors on all available communication vehicles. Even hiring a "contrarian" or "special PR firm" to drive down the price. Even hiring someone to attack the guy who had earlier written glowingly about the company. (This is not a game for the faint-hearted!)

You'll also see the stock drifting endlessly. You may even experience a helpless feeling, as if you were floating in outer space without a lifeline. That is exactly HOW the market manipulator wants you to feel.
He may also be doing this to avoid the severe disappointment of a "dry hole" or a "failed deal." You'll hear that oft-cried refrain, "Oh well, that's the junior minerals exploration business... very risky!" Or the oft-quoted statistic, "Nine out of 10 businesses fail each year and this IS a Venture Capital Startup stock exchange." Don't think it wasn't contrived. If a geologist at a junior mining company wasn't optimistic and rosy in his promise of exploration success, he would be replaced by someone who was! Ditto for the high-tech deal, in a world awash with PhD's.

So, how do you know when you are being taken? Look again at Rule #1. Inside that rule, a few other rules unfold which explain how a stock price is manipulated.

Part II to follow
 

amitrandive

Well-Known Member
The Deadly Art of Stock Manipulation - George Chelekis Part II

http://iasw-after-all.blogspot.in/2010/06/deadly-art-of-stock-manipulation.html

"RULE NUMBER FOUR: ANY STOCK THAT TRADES HUGE VOLUME AT HIGHER PRICES SIGNALS THE DISTRIBUTION PHASE." (??? My Note : This is ofcourse contrary to conventional wisdom)

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In the mining business, there seems to always be another "area play" around the corner. Just as Voisey's Bay drifted into oblivion, during the fourth quarter of 1995 and early into 1996, the same Voisey Bay "wannabees" began striking deals in Indonesia. Some even used new corporate entities. Same crooks, different shingles. The accumulation phase was TOP SECRET. The noise level was deadingly silent. As soon as the insiders accumulated all their shares, they let YOU in on the secret.
DSM

Thanks for this fantastic article.Somewhere in our minds,we always thought that markets are rigged.This article clearly documents it is and also explains how.

A couple for charts relating volume and price.