Post by fastwalker on Apr 13, 2006 23:05:43 GMT -5
....it the Two Step....Which was / is the politics of Texas
“Defendants collusively condone and engage in these practices to their individual and collective enrichment, routinely alternating among themselves in the roles of prime broker who fails to deliver and third-party broker-dealer who permits the (failure to deliver) to persist," according to the filings.
According to the Dow Jones, the complaint says that Electronic Trading Group isn't challenging the practice of naked short selling per se, but rather is suing the broker-dealers for anticompetitive actions "by which they have arrogated to themselves illicit and anticompetitive profits at the expense and without the participation of their clients."
www.marketcenter.com/stocks/story.action?id=ITR103r9874
This is a typical tactic, or so it would seem, where a situation, a condition exists (NSS) which those bringing the litigation may have always know existed as an open secret, but for reasons of their own, they aren’t ready to prove the “actual” condition in an open court of law?
Why is that? Maybe because approaching the subject matter from this angle, will preclude a closer inspection of their activities in this predatory environment? Who knows, we can only wait at this point.
What we do know about the NSS issue at this point? We know that rules have been established:
Rule 203(c)(6) of Regulation SHO, establishes a “threshold security” is any equity security of any issuer that is registered under Section 12 of the Exchange Act, or that is required to file reports under Section 15(d) of the Exchange Act (commonly referred to as reporting securities), where, for five consecutive settlement days:
There are aggregate fails to deliver at a registered clearing agency of 10,000 shares or more per security;
The level of fails is equal to at least one-half of one percent of the issuer’s total shares outstanding; and
The security is included on a list published by a self-regulatory organization (SRO).
A security ceases to be a threshold security if it does not exceed the specified level of fails for five consecutive settlement days.
A detailed explanation / information will be found here, within the SEC's website at:
www.sec.gov/divisions/marketreg/mrfaqregsho1204.htm
www.sec.gov/spotlight/keyregshoissues.htm
We know that active enforcement of these Fails To Deliver (FTD) is not, or it appears not to be a issue of paramount concern for the SEC. In that companies are included on the list and remain there for some time. Almost like the SEC is not reviewing the list to ascertain those most affected by the FTDs.
Just who is Shorty? Shorty is a collection of hedge funds, naked short sellers and overseas listers such as the Berlin Stock Exchange, and the out-of-control “Stock Borrow Program” run by the governance-conflict-laden Depository Trust and Clearing Corporation. To the amazement of the industry, as often and not, Shorty may actually turn out to be the market’s own regulators.
We watched on June 23, when the SEC stated it has put into place Rule 202(T), which establishes procedures to allow the Commission to temporarily suspend the operation of the current "tick" test in Rule 10a-1, and any short sale price test of any exchange or national securities association, for specified securities.
Through a separate order, the Commission would suspend, on a pilot basis for a period of one-year, the tick test provision of paragraph (a) of Rule 10a-1, and any short sale price test of any exchange or national securities association, for approximately one-third of stocks in the Russell 3000 index.
The order also will suspend, on a pilot basis for a period of one year, the tick test provision of paragraph (a) of Rule 10a-1 for short sales executed in any security included in the Russell 1000 index after 4:15 p.m. Eastern, and all other securities after the close of the consolidated tape, and until the open of the consolidated tape the next day.
These processes that commenced on January 3, 2005, was seen then as a simply a way that permitted broker-dealers and self-regulatory organizations to make the necessary programming adjustments, effectively to hide or distort the NSS issue from their exposed position. Not good for cleaning up the mess, but exceptional, if followed, to hide and negate a clear look into the problem.
Unfortunate for the SEC, but great for us the investors, these predators didn’t want to undue the feeding buffet and so, their own greed and arrogance which they acquired from being allowed to legally steal from the market / us, thwarted the quick fix offered by the SEC to control and minimize the exposure.
More.......
Just some simple observations about those who have manipulated CMKX, gleaned from various media sources., would indicate, that we are we witnessing now the lid about to come off this pressure cooker known as NSS? Will this CMKX/Entourage cert pull be the portal sufficient enough to prompt our legitimate return to trading as CMKX, or as a newly named entity with all of our assets intact?
Will the cert pull establish a NSS position within CMKX? Or will the issuance of the dividends be simply the means get dividends in Entourage?
After all, it was stated that the task force has been working on establishing an NSS issue relevant to CMKX, are we still attempting to cross that threshold and boldly go, where others are also headed… I suggest that we need more answers than questions from these “updates.”….lol
OK, what allegedly are we doing here to determine culpability for our predicament? We each have different answers for who the bad guys are, but we all assume it to be the Market Makers?
But it appears, if you actually look at the big picture, that what we have is really a conspiracy of intent by many individuals and corporations, to defraud not only us specifically, but in general the investing public on many levels. It also appears that some entered into this activity with original intent to do so, while others simply became aware of the feeding frenzy conditions and jumped in. But regardless of their participation, they are all still guilty of fraud, deceptive trade practices and manipulation of the market for their own purposes..
Back to the MS. Yeah, I know each person here has a different and maybe colorful description of what an MM is, but I will point out some obvious data before moving on.
The major differences between The NASDAQ Stock Market and other major markets in the U.S. is the NASDAQ structure of competing Market Makers, in which there are approximately 250 member firms that act as OTCBB Market Makers. We can’t win against such odds, if they go bad.
Market Makers are NASD member firms that use their own capital, research, retail and or systems resources to represent a stock and compete with each other to buy and sell the stocks they represent. (That is an interesting notion…they compete with each other)
Each Market Maker competes for customer order flow by displaying buy and sell quotations for a guaranteed number of shares. Once an order is received, the Market Maker will immediately purchase for or sell from its own inventory, or seek the other side of the trade until it is executed, often in a matter of seconds” Now that last sentence is the one that makes you go mommy!
Granted that is their “real” function, but most associated with CMKX, know the MMs for something different than their PR “spin” We know them for Naked Short Selling (NSS), which is the illegal practice of short selling shares that haven't been borrowed or do not exist at all, .we see them or define them as “air shares.”
Why do we feel that NSS is taking place with our stock? There are various reasons, some are “gut” check reasons from investors who have the experience to see such activity and others, rely on “hard data,” to support their contention.
Often as investors, we follow various activities or trends, in order to estimate what the market and a stock in particular may do. Since we do not have access to or would deal in “insider trade” information, we have to rely on “predictors.
Therefore, if we as average investors utilize such tools, it stands to reason that market makers must use similar data gathering tools, to predict activity on the market, of course. Because they are professionals, we can also assume their tools are more sophisticated than those being used by you and me, the average investors.
However, as I pointed out, since we do follow activity and trends, we are often suspicious of activity which may indicate some type of “insiders “information” which demonstrates a "notable" reaction by an adjustment of the of the pps quotes.
Granted this activity, say for the NASDAQ and Exchange-listed stocks quoted, are relatively stable for NASDAQ stocks over the OTC, which only means, that we can easily see the (PPS) start to deteriorate after the influx of some possible “insider” trading begins, which isn't as notable versus the often volatile activity associated with the OTC, in which wild "swing" of the pps are more common.
Now we have to also ask, do market makers and specialists in the marketplace detect the presence of insider trading?
If so, how do quoted bid-asked spreads and market depth react to the onset of insider trading? Do insiders earn abnormal returns from illegal trades? How safe are they in the knowledge that they will make money from such trades and not be detected by others?
Well to ask if these guys can detect the presence of the insiders and avoid or capitalize on that activity, is kind of like asking a harden criminal, if he “knows” the methodology of criminals within his specialize field of endeavor?
Point being they (MM) know even if they do not participate, from their experience what to look for regarding insider activity.
Since it is a given, they (MMS) are for the most part, specialist in the market place, within that specialized environment, "given” their routine usage of that arena. They can, for all intents and purposes, be viewed from any “reasonable” person‘s definitions / expectations, as to their qualifications and ability to "detect" such insider activity and ALSO their ability to ignore, move off, or participate in a given feeding frenzy.
Given the reasonable person's expectation, we can accept that MMs in reality, are highly specialized and “knowledgeable” individuals and may in fact be on many “routine” and or unusual market related activities, of which “insider“ activity could be considered as one.
Okay, now who else has access to these kinds of information? Well for the most part all those who control or have an oversight function of the market place. Guess that leaves us out because we only have LII to track these activities.
So if everyone within a position of authority has access to data that would or could be recognized as “insider” or other manipulation activity, one can easily assume they can and may even be "purposefully" driven by that data / knowledge, relevant to their own individual performance and the magnitude of its impact, regarding their usage and or avoidance.
Now I’m in a pointing out various process, I will elaborate a bit more on other types of manipulative situations that can and probably have been visited upon us at one time or another.
Lets get come clarification on manipulations. We’ll start where NSS is the primary activity of the MMs, this activity is referred to as “Ghosting“ which is the illegal practice whereby two or more market makers collectively attempt to influence and change the price of a stock. This is a practice is seen routinely on a daily basis, drives us all crazy and we rightfully assumed their (MM) activity is not beneficial to us.
So how and why can they (MMs) get way with it? Aren’t there Laws to protect us, or are we simply covered by the “caveat emptor” warning when dealing with risk?
Of course there are laws, this practice is illegal because market makers are required by law to act in competition with each other. Ghosting is termed as such because, like a false image or a ghost, collusion and manipulation among market makers is difficult to detect.
Is it really?
As an investor, you may have a broker to manage your financial assets, often they are required, just as a good CPA, to deal with your debt or equity and your personal dreams / goals relevant to your shares. Usually, a portfolio is made up exclusively of publicly traded stock and you have very little time, since you are still working for a living, to watch the stocks in your portfolio and as a result, you may be unaware of , NSS, or how to guard against exposure to broker-dealer or the dreaded market maker manipulation.
So what can we do as a “day” trader and or “rabid” CMKXers with regards to naked shorting, especially since most of our activity is Internet-based?
Well lets start by increasing our awareness of market maker manipulation, which we can or should be able to recognize from our experience with CMKX.
Why is that important to recognize this market manipulation / NSS?
more....
“Defendants collusively condone and engage in these practices to their individual and collective enrichment, routinely alternating among themselves in the roles of prime broker who fails to deliver and third-party broker-dealer who permits the (failure to deliver) to persist," according to the filings.
According to the Dow Jones, the complaint says that Electronic Trading Group isn't challenging the practice of naked short selling per se, but rather is suing the broker-dealers for anticompetitive actions "by which they have arrogated to themselves illicit and anticompetitive profits at the expense and without the participation of their clients."
www.marketcenter.com/stocks/story.action?id=ITR103r9874
This is a typical tactic, or so it would seem, where a situation, a condition exists (NSS) which those bringing the litigation may have always know existed as an open secret, but for reasons of their own, they aren’t ready to prove the “actual” condition in an open court of law?
Why is that? Maybe because approaching the subject matter from this angle, will preclude a closer inspection of their activities in this predatory environment? Who knows, we can only wait at this point.
What we do know about the NSS issue at this point? We know that rules have been established:
Rule 203(c)(6) of Regulation SHO, establishes a “threshold security” is any equity security of any issuer that is registered under Section 12 of the Exchange Act, or that is required to file reports under Section 15(d) of the Exchange Act (commonly referred to as reporting securities), where, for five consecutive settlement days:
There are aggregate fails to deliver at a registered clearing agency of 10,000 shares or more per security;
The level of fails is equal to at least one-half of one percent of the issuer’s total shares outstanding; and
The security is included on a list published by a self-regulatory organization (SRO).
A security ceases to be a threshold security if it does not exceed the specified level of fails for five consecutive settlement days.
A detailed explanation / information will be found here, within the SEC's website at:
www.sec.gov/divisions/marketreg/mrfaqregsho1204.htm
www.sec.gov/spotlight/keyregshoissues.htm
We know that active enforcement of these Fails To Deliver (FTD) is not, or it appears not to be a issue of paramount concern for the SEC. In that companies are included on the list and remain there for some time. Almost like the SEC is not reviewing the list to ascertain those most affected by the FTDs.
Just who is Shorty? Shorty is a collection of hedge funds, naked short sellers and overseas listers such as the Berlin Stock Exchange, and the out-of-control “Stock Borrow Program” run by the governance-conflict-laden Depository Trust and Clearing Corporation. To the amazement of the industry, as often and not, Shorty may actually turn out to be the market’s own regulators.
We watched on June 23, when the SEC stated it has put into place Rule 202(T), which establishes procedures to allow the Commission to temporarily suspend the operation of the current "tick" test in Rule 10a-1, and any short sale price test of any exchange or national securities association, for specified securities.
Through a separate order, the Commission would suspend, on a pilot basis for a period of one-year, the tick test provision of paragraph (a) of Rule 10a-1, and any short sale price test of any exchange or national securities association, for approximately one-third of stocks in the Russell 3000 index.
The order also will suspend, on a pilot basis for a period of one year, the tick test provision of paragraph (a) of Rule 10a-1 for short sales executed in any security included in the Russell 1000 index after 4:15 p.m. Eastern, and all other securities after the close of the consolidated tape, and until the open of the consolidated tape the next day.
These processes that commenced on January 3, 2005, was seen then as a simply a way that permitted broker-dealers and self-regulatory organizations to make the necessary programming adjustments, effectively to hide or distort the NSS issue from their exposed position. Not good for cleaning up the mess, but exceptional, if followed, to hide and negate a clear look into the problem.
Unfortunate for the SEC, but great for us the investors, these predators didn’t want to undue the feeding buffet and so, their own greed and arrogance which they acquired from being allowed to legally steal from the market / us, thwarted the quick fix offered by the SEC to control and minimize the exposure.
More.......
Just some simple observations about those who have manipulated CMKX, gleaned from various media sources., would indicate, that we are we witnessing now the lid about to come off this pressure cooker known as NSS? Will this CMKX/Entourage cert pull be the portal sufficient enough to prompt our legitimate return to trading as CMKX, or as a newly named entity with all of our assets intact?
Will the cert pull establish a NSS position within CMKX? Or will the issuance of the dividends be simply the means get dividends in Entourage?
After all, it was stated that the task force has been working on establishing an NSS issue relevant to CMKX, are we still attempting to cross that threshold and boldly go, where others are also headed… I suggest that we need more answers than questions from these “updates.”….lol
OK, what allegedly are we doing here to determine culpability for our predicament? We each have different answers for who the bad guys are, but we all assume it to be the Market Makers?
But it appears, if you actually look at the big picture, that what we have is really a conspiracy of intent by many individuals and corporations, to defraud not only us specifically, but in general the investing public on many levels. It also appears that some entered into this activity with original intent to do so, while others simply became aware of the feeding frenzy conditions and jumped in. But regardless of their participation, they are all still guilty of fraud, deceptive trade practices and manipulation of the market for their own purposes..
Back to the MS. Yeah, I know each person here has a different and maybe colorful description of what an MM is, but I will point out some obvious data before moving on.
The major differences between The NASDAQ Stock Market and other major markets in the U.S. is the NASDAQ structure of competing Market Makers, in which there are approximately 250 member firms that act as OTCBB Market Makers. We can’t win against such odds, if they go bad.
Market Makers are NASD member firms that use their own capital, research, retail and or systems resources to represent a stock and compete with each other to buy and sell the stocks they represent. (That is an interesting notion…they compete with each other)
Each Market Maker competes for customer order flow by displaying buy and sell quotations for a guaranteed number of shares. Once an order is received, the Market Maker will immediately purchase for or sell from its own inventory, or seek the other side of the trade until it is executed, often in a matter of seconds” Now that last sentence is the one that makes you go mommy!
Granted that is their “real” function, but most associated with CMKX, know the MMs for something different than their PR “spin” We know them for Naked Short Selling (NSS), which is the illegal practice of short selling shares that haven't been borrowed or do not exist at all, .we see them or define them as “air shares.”
Why do we feel that NSS is taking place with our stock? There are various reasons, some are “gut” check reasons from investors who have the experience to see such activity and others, rely on “hard data,” to support their contention.
Often as investors, we follow various activities or trends, in order to estimate what the market and a stock in particular may do. Since we do not have access to or would deal in “insider trade” information, we have to rely on “predictors.
Therefore, if we as average investors utilize such tools, it stands to reason that market makers must use similar data gathering tools, to predict activity on the market, of course. Because they are professionals, we can also assume their tools are more sophisticated than those being used by you and me, the average investors.
However, as I pointed out, since we do follow activity and trends, we are often suspicious of activity which may indicate some type of “insiders “information” which demonstrates a "notable" reaction by an adjustment of the of the pps quotes.
Granted this activity, say for the NASDAQ and Exchange-listed stocks quoted, are relatively stable for NASDAQ stocks over the OTC, which only means, that we can easily see the (PPS) start to deteriorate after the influx of some possible “insider” trading begins, which isn't as notable versus the often volatile activity associated with the OTC, in which wild "swing" of the pps are more common.
Now we have to also ask, do market makers and specialists in the marketplace detect the presence of insider trading?
If so, how do quoted bid-asked spreads and market depth react to the onset of insider trading? Do insiders earn abnormal returns from illegal trades? How safe are they in the knowledge that they will make money from such trades and not be detected by others?
Well to ask if these guys can detect the presence of the insiders and avoid or capitalize on that activity, is kind of like asking a harden criminal, if he “knows” the methodology of criminals within his specialize field of endeavor?
Point being they (MM) know even if they do not participate, from their experience what to look for regarding insider activity.
Since it is a given, they (MMS) are for the most part, specialist in the market place, within that specialized environment, "given” their routine usage of that arena. They can, for all intents and purposes, be viewed from any “reasonable” person‘s definitions / expectations, as to their qualifications and ability to "detect" such insider activity and ALSO their ability to ignore, move off, or participate in a given feeding frenzy.
Given the reasonable person's expectation, we can accept that MMs in reality, are highly specialized and “knowledgeable” individuals and may in fact be on many “routine” and or unusual market related activities, of which “insider“ activity could be considered as one.
Okay, now who else has access to these kinds of information? Well for the most part all those who control or have an oversight function of the market place. Guess that leaves us out because we only have LII to track these activities.
So if everyone within a position of authority has access to data that would or could be recognized as “insider” or other manipulation activity, one can easily assume they can and may even be "purposefully" driven by that data / knowledge, relevant to their own individual performance and the magnitude of its impact, regarding their usage and or avoidance.
Now I’m in a pointing out various process, I will elaborate a bit more on other types of manipulative situations that can and probably have been visited upon us at one time or another.
Lets get come clarification on manipulations. We’ll start where NSS is the primary activity of the MMs, this activity is referred to as “Ghosting“ which is the illegal practice whereby two or more market makers collectively attempt to influence and change the price of a stock. This is a practice is seen routinely on a daily basis, drives us all crazy and we rightfully assumed their (MM) activity is not beneficial to us.
So how and why can they (MMs) get way with it? Aren’t there Laws to protect us, or are we simply covered by the “caveat emptor” warning when dealing with risk?
Of course there are laws, this practice is illegal because market makers are required by law to act in competition with each other. Ghosting is termed as such because, like a false image or a ghost, collusion and manipulation among market makers is difficult to detect.
Is it really?
As an investor, you may have a broker to manage your financial assets, often they are required, just as a good CPA, to deal with your debt or equity and your personal dreams / goals relevant to your shares. Usually, a portfolio is made up exclusively of publicly traded stock and you have very little time, since you are still working for a living, to watch the stocks in your portfolio and as a result, you may be unaware of , NSS, or how to guard against exposure to broker-dealer or the dreaded market maker manipulation.
So what can we do as a “day” trader and or “rabid” CMKXers with regards to naked shorting, especially since most of our activity is Internet-based?
Well lets start by increasing our awareness of market maker manipulation, which we can or should be able to recognize from our experience with CMKX.
Why is that important to recognize this market manipulation / NSS?
more....