RE: Nomad and SP rise26 Jan 2019 16:10
Roobler, this might be market lesson 101, but institutions are known generally for being long term holders, they buy to invest rather than flip it in a short time for quick profit. Whilst I am sure they would like to do the latter, there just isn't enough liquidity in AIM at any given time for them to be able to buy or sell as much as they would like, so they are either in from early on or take a while to build a position.
The share price is dictated by current trades rather than ownership. If institutions are generally HOLDERS rather than buyers or sellers than their positions do not affect share price in short or medium term as they are not trading them.
All this means that retail investors not only 'move the needle' sometimes, but in fact are behind the majority of needle moves (on AIM this is, not the main market).
Market makers make their money on trades, so if no trades are coming in, they will begin to drop the price, fishing for some action. You can occasionally see unfasionable shares lose huge percentages on the back of miniscule volumes so don't assume you need big trades to 'make things happen'.
Obviously when institutional investors DO decent to sell or buy, they move that needle a lot more than retail ever could, its just that those instances are a lot rarer.