I had a feeling that this was a pump/dump scheme. I looked at some of the names in the SEC filings that made me very uncomfortable. There was a gift of shares given to a certain charitable organization that is connected with a really sleazy wall street guy. I can imagine that the price was bid up, the shares unloaded somewhere over 7 and the wham, the price comes smashing down. I wont get into names, you can read the S-4s and google the names to find out what I am talking about. Dont want to get myself in trouble for libel.
I never noticed anything sketchy, but the price action told me to get out a while ago. The fundamentals still remain intact, but I think the fear of an ICE/NMX merger or something of the sort making OPBL's OPEX platform irrelevant is whats driving this so low.
There is an S-4 back on January 24th where Mark Nordlicht gifted 1.2 million shares to the Congregation Ahavas Tzdokah V'chessed Inc.. This appears to be a Jewish charitable organization that has appeared on several other filings for non-related companies. I believe that Mel Lifshitz is connected with this Jewish charitable organization. His name did appear on some of the Optionable filings. This guy is a huge red flag! http://www.thestreet.com/pf/stocks/brokerages/10266218.html
Here is the other red flag. When the 20 crosses the 50, then that will be the "death cross". It needs to get back to 6 otherwise this will be a huge technical sell signal and then the chart will truly become broken.
The Lifshitz thing is pretty much irrelevant at this point and I dont think it has anything to do with the current price action. Technicals aren't the be-all-end all either. I'm staying away for another .70 at least, but I DO think there will be a good time to buy. The market is going to totally discount OPEX growth based on fear of an NMX merger (w/ ICE, CME, whoever) happening, and thats when I think its time to go long. Read about 2/3 the way down and you'll see talk of Optionable. http://www1.fow.com/articles/foweek_article.asp?storyCode=5955
Wow! I thought this stock was done. DONE! Then it blipped up 30% in just two days. I dont understand where a small brokerage that employs less then 25 people and grosses less then 30 million in revenue can command such price action in the first place. However, as I have been stating in previous threads, I never believed the market is a place about fundamentals but hype. OPBL has hype written all over it.
http://biz.yahoo.com/prnews/070326/lam064.html?.v=81 The action this morning was due mostly to that news. Its definately good for the company - now they'll have their presence extend beyond Nat Gas and have more of a role in Crude Oil aswell. From a technical standpoint though if the stock price doesnt close above 6.50 it looks like its headed back ot the 5.00-5.50 range.
The key to that press release is Big Pete. He worked at Goldman and is a heavy hitter. Thats what is taking it up. However, the exchange stocks are getting winded and losing the sex appeal. Thats the larger problem.