This is correct. And that is axiomatic for any professional player. Manipulation is an emotional word for kids to use.There could be reasons why a price is being supported with buying power (for a time) or a ceiling level at which a price is being sold (for a time). Any amateur (non-professional) should know he is out of the loop in these matters.
Agree. The market will go where it wants to go in the long term, but intraday or over slow trading periods like year end or during holidays, it is easily manipulated. The futures are the preferred tool of course for market manipulation, especially in the final hour of the trading day.
Let's assume one party (a big trading firm, a trading desk, etc.) is "manipulating" the market in their preferred direction in your scenario. Doesn't that offer a risk free profit for other, bigger market participants to counter-manipulate that trade and force them to cover at a loss? There is always a bigger fish out there that could easily see through the manipulation scheme and profit from it. If we're talking about fake research reports, cooked buy and sell recommendations, spreading false rumors then I am with you, yes that is market manipulation. But otherwise all this BS about big players "manipulating" the market against the small traders is BS in my book. Placing and executing buy and sell orders is not manipulation, it's just trading. Get with the program.
Exactly so. Of course small players contribute to the liquidity of the markets they play in. But big players do not give a shit what small players do or don't do and have no interest whatsoever in when and how small players screw themselves up and how often they do it.