RE: Confused? Market Manipulation?18 Oct 2022 12:38
My thoughts:
1. Not manipulation. Trades are reported as a 'trade', nothing else. The direction of any trade (buy/sell) is never reported to the market at the point of execution when it is reported just as a 'Trade' (until it goes to the official LSE after market close as a Transaction Report). Sites like LSE that report them use algos to interpret the direction on a best efforts basis only, so will not always be correct. There is info available on Trade Reporting vs Transaction Reporting that explains this, as well as MiFID II requirements.
2. Large trades can be reported late by MM's. They could land at end of day, or even the next trading day but still with a trade time of when you may have expected to see something. It is not possible to alter the time a trade is executed even if it is reported late.
My opinion is that people like to scream MM manipulation at anything and everything that they do not understand, or does not look right in their eyes, often when the SP is not performing as they think it should.
Yes, the MM's have licence to move the bid/ask and report trades late which could impact on the direction in which a trade could be shown, but wholescale MM manipulation that is claimed on virtually every board is wide of the mark. Again, imo. I am sceptical about the MM's dropping the price to trigger stop losses too, but that is one for others to comment on.
For me, it is trading volume that is a better indication of what is going on rather than looking at individual trades, unless they are of a significant size.
But 'significant size' to a PI seems very different to what the markets sees as significant, e.g. on may boards some posters will get very excited about a £10k or £20k trade telling everyone someone must know something, etc when it is invariably insignificant (unless accompanied by numerous similar trades).
Others will disagree, of course and say everything is down to manipulation, or have some other explanation. There is info out there that covers the late reporting of trades, trade reporting, etc. dyor
Sign In
Follow the stocks
