Halts are an ideal time to call around to locate shares with which to short. Whether it's Tokyo, JFK's assasination, or the week long hiatus after 9/11, the concept is the same. They didn't halt to have tea.
Now where was that huge volume on January 18th, 2006?? Do you see it?? http://finance.yahoo.com/q/bc?s=^N225&t=3m&l=on&z=m&q=l&c=
Transactions and volume are not the same thing. You could have two million 5 share transactions and one 10,000,000 share transaction..... but .....It doesn't equal the same in computing/processing capability.
Now who was getting out? The big guy or the small guy? At the start of a move it's mostly the big guy who sells, not the moms&dads. Conclusion: it's highly implausible that the small guy caused a trading halt on January, 18th 2006!
Who's to say that was the start of the move? You? To me it looks like the end of the move (a low formed), but thats just IMHO.