OK, I've been tracking/stalking this one listed stock. Its a steady, liquid stock that's been holding up pretty well. But in the past few days, I've noticed at literally the last second (say within 15secs of closing) that there's a spike and big ass block print of 20000 shares (big and unusual for this stock). Its been holding up pretty well in the negative stock environment we're in right now, but every time this happens, it guarantees that the stock will see green. Volume's moderate, it sees +500K a day, but its been pretty light this past week (after a rather extensive bull run, sort of in the pause and refresh phase or possible reversal, you never know), easily drifiting into the negative during the doldrum hours of the market. Anyways, any ideas? Is some insitution just snatching up shares at the EOD? Window dressing? OK, on a similar topic, what kind of games have you noticed MMs and Specialists playing? Got any personal stories where you were faked out by MM/S or knew exactly what he was doing and just shadowed him?
look at any listed stock and you will see big prints at the close, so this is not unusual for your stock. the close is institution time. what stock is it? you said its liquid but only trades 500/k a day? imo, that is not liquid. block prints will stand out more in that thin enviornment. also, we had triple, errr, quad-witching and you may see big prints around that time too that might not influence price, just unwinding with no axe to grind.
one story....this was last summer...on (OMG) ...it was in the 50's at the time I think.making new lows..I got a short position on...and had to use the toilet real bad...so i set a stop...50-60 cents up....well, you can guess what happened..the guy went all the way up on hardly any volume just in what seemed like a move just to get my little 400share position. I heard to stop go off frm the jon..and when i got back to my desk the stock was much lower. Thing is, I vowed not to trade it again b/c the specialist pulled a move like that. A few months later the stock was in single digits. Oh well. When you gotta go, you gotta go.
20K shares is really not that significant in a 500K volume stock. It could be a cross between institutions or accounts internally. If it is inline it could be vs. a convertible or a preferred as some sort of a swap. If it does not affect future prints, then nobody positioned it. If you are really that fascinated call someone with BRIDGE or AUTEX and see who advertised it. Then call a friend that can find out what the nature of the print was. Anything that prints in NY to an extent can be tracked down. Give me the symbol and I can tell you from my BUYSIDE detectives! Happy Trading
Thanks for replying all. Its MVL and its unusual in the fact that I don't remember this behavior before it took off on its extended post-Feb bullrun. It could be I just never noticed or watched the close that closely, but I don't remember it being so... clockwork.