Something odd happened in this morning's trading that is difficult to explain. Someone offered $0.395 for about 70,000 shares of ERHC Energy (OTC BB symbol: ERHE) when the Ask was $0.42, two and a half cents higher than the offer.
Apparently, five of the trades - which could not be identified as Buys or Sells - went off at $0.395, but one for 20,000 went off at $0.42.
Following that, there was more than a half hour hiatus in trading, and seven more trades came quickly - almost all of them Buys - at $0.395 for the first four and then three at $0.40. Then, for a single 5,000 Buy, the Bid went up $0.001 and the Ask went up $019 to $0.419. It immediately dropped back down to $0.405 after that trade.
While it at first appeared that a single trader was getting favored treatment from a market-maker, the later rise in the Offer suggested more than the normal skullduggery was going on.
While two-cent price jumps are not all that rare, today's trading is strange by any definition. It could mean news is coming.
At 10:25am EDT, the Bis was $0.40, and the Ask $0.405. Volume was 260,500 shares - a good start for what seemed like a slow day, with Buys outpacing Sells by more than 129,500 to 58,00, with a very hefty 73,000 - the first seven trades unidentified.
Mystery Solved! At least part of it, anyway. Our good friend and confidante Rancho said he offered some shares at $0.419, and then posted he was doing so on the Raging Bull message board, and 5,000 of his shares immediately sold; he cancelled the sell order and the Ask immediately fell to $0.405. It appears that the market is so thin that any given investor can move it.
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