Boss, that makes a lot of sense and fills in some gaps I have seen. One was that at times, 100 share trades go off at almost exact intervals, then a dump in the direction of the drips, followed by a recovery. I thought to myself once that it seemed so mechanical and wondered why the MM would waste 15 minutes on it.

The remaining question is "to what end/purpose" are these guys trading this way. What is their goal or is it just Leso Varen style chaos creation....

The only thing I was taught about black box program trading is that it can wreak havoc on a short term trader's plans.

Either way it still comes out the same....manipulated price. Right?