As far as I am concerned, the man shorted from his own account into a standing buy order (that only he and the buyer and maybe the crowd knew about) because he knew, once my order was in, he'd be able to take my stock and cover in a riskless transaction -- he already knew he'd bundle me with 800 other shares that would be filled at the lower price. If he can pull that off 50 times a day he's doing OK, and that on this one little bitty stock. I don't mind the ups and downs...but I don't like being shafted, and having absolutely no recourse. It's peanuts, you say. Exactly. No potential for a lawsuit. If he can keep picking pockets all day for 50 bucks at a time, who's going to fight it?