Hi Lawnbowler!

I do not put much faith in the published short position for ECU. That number is only updated on regular intervals. Anyone that shorts in the morning and covers in the same day is not going to show up on that. Anyone that shorts on a monday and covers on the thursday of the same week before the numbers are updated will not appear as a short. Nevertheless, that intraday and swing trade shorting activity is a factor in the trading for ECU. Also, I cannot prove it, but I would surmise that ECU may be shorted by House A and then that position may be covered in a cross with House B before the weekly short positions are updated, therefore showing no outstanding short. House B will then short the stock and House A will cover a week later in a cross back. The net activity shows no shorting but in actual fact a short position will be maintained through the cross trades. I do not have access to the trading data to prove this, but I suspect it is a factor as well.

Just remember that when flipping hundreds of thousands of shares, even a profit of a few cents is going to pay off. And it is very easy to trigger other selling from legitimate sources if one shorts heavily and takes out support. This can then be covered off later in the session or a few days later without running the stock higher. And if the players involved know what they are doing, they can set it up so that there is never a disclosed short position reported.

cheers!

mike