I agree with most of your points but market is full of sharks and you have to live with it. I got the impression that you meant that CAT is heavily manipulated which I don't think so. It is not like HerbaLife or maybe Shake Shak or FIT at the beginning. CAT is a very mature company that traders jumped on it and very soon they have to abandon it and it will get back to normal.
North America has an abundance of used equipment & China was the only bright spot. See how that goes with trade war Trump.
Today I sold covered weekly PUT 91.5 @ 0.65 for my short position as damage control. I just saw this downgrade:
Please ignore that downgrade twit attachment. IB had it under CAT stock but it has nothing to do with CAT. It is another stock. sorry for posting it.
this will have a very fast and harsh reverse. Gaps always get filled in these scenarios. Sooner than later.
CAT is showing signs of weakness and ready to drop hard in the next couple of days. This is only my feeling from observing market and CAT price action.