hey ice bro, i'll take a stab at this altho it's just a stab
shorters can approach it however they want, just like longs. i dont think there's an overarching strategy in terms of trailing or conditional orders that are native to a short strategy.
personally i think it's more about the level of account access a trader has. if you're pedestrian (like most of us), when you submit an order to otcbb, the mm's have a whole set of rules on how the fill or display it. based on size and price. it's kind of lousy to read, but the finra roolbook does spell it out a little. minimum sizes to display, minumum price increments to quote at different price levels etc. they have a clear advantage, they can hide your order or show it within the rules. the market can print outside you, etc. and that's legit.
if you have a higher level account, all the mm priviledges are yours. you get to quote as an mm, fill as an mm, jump the line, etc.
i admit, it kind of mystifies me, where all the shares for sale in eedg come from. are they grandfathered longs from way back trickling out, is it someone with preferred access gaming the spread with MM level access, etc. i don't know
i doubt "you know who" has the sophistication level to play mm in any real way. he might be short a shitload and i hope he is. but i don't think there's any "short" strategy in terms of trailing, etc.
i forget who it was, CLAK, or DON, who pointed out that VFIN and ATDF were the short, and you can definitely see the shift when they go from aggressive offering, to sitting in the bid, to chasing the bid. Smitt and others are right when they've said don't sell to them. it looks like they're trying to cover and the more we leave them cold, the more they will have to chase if we go up.
i think it's clear we have a major dug-in short. god help them if we start to bust upward. someone is going to be trying to cover in a crazy thin, volatile market. they're going to be stranded.
our fundamentals will take them out, time will do it if nothing else does.
cheers ice bro!
