Sloopster,

Thought I would follow up to your Q on whether that 50k shares of KRY that moved yesterday was a buy or sale. MoM is technically correct that there is a buyer and a seller at whatever price is mutually agreed upon. You sound like you are a newbie to all of this. There was a time when each and every one of us was a newbie. You deserve a little consideration.

If you watch Level II (beware, not all is as seems ever since the public has been granted access) you will note all of the Buyers line up their "Bids" and all of the Sellers line up their "Asks" before and during the trading day. Then they hang out, maybe look around a bit. Kind of like a flea market. Those not in the Bid-Ask lines are shopping the many choices out there. Maybe they see a decent deal and come in and Take (Buy) or Give (Sell) to those in the line. Also, those in the Bid-Ask line might get impatient and, seeing the other Bids-Asks, adjust their Bid-Ask to instantly Give or Take.

P posted the tell-tale of what happened. Price went up. Typically this indicates a Buyer came in and "Took" some shares from the Ask line, rather then a Seller "Giving" some shares to the Bid line. However, does this really say the 50k of KRY shares was a Buy or Sell? Not really. The Bid-Ask is fluid. KRY is not constantly trading so the Bid and Ask are constantly adjusted to entice Buyers and Sellers. So, even though price went up which typically indicates Taking shares at 0.1637, it is also likely the Bid could have been adjusted to entice someone to Give their shares at 0.1637. Bottom line is that you have to witness what was going on at the time it happened, or find the data of the changing Bid-Ask at the moment of sale to determine if the shares were Taken or Given.

Essentially, when someone Takes the Ask it is considered Buying, with Buyers coming in to drive up the price. If someone Gives the Bid it is considered as Selling, as Sellers are coming in and driving down share price.

Hope that helps.

JC