It is hard for me to forecast exactly what the naked-short hedgies will do next because I find it so ignorant to short any precious metal mining stock in this metal esclation. Yet, Ecclestone and his "boss" so proudly initiated that feat (at C$.60) in his infamous report in Nov. '09, in conjunction with Otto Rock and more recently, the "bull"-Garian Tomov. Not to mention the continuation of multi-year ongoing trading antics at CIBC, Anon, Jitney, and Penson.

What I have been banking on is an ECU share price escalation brought about by either the return of (1) an overall positive market psychology to the entire sector, (2) extremely successful drilling results sharply escalating ECU's resource, and/or (3) some form of strategic development by management which improves the investor psychology and visbility surrounding ECU. I believe all three are very strong possibilities.

Should any or all of these three developments occur, I think the shorts will have no choice but to cover. Afterall, why continue to hold or increase a short position when ECU's share price begins to sharply go against you? Otherwise, one is just digging a deeper and deeper hole for himself. What will be fun to watch is any attempt to cover a large quantity of shares when so much of the offer side has been provided by this very same entity for months. I envision an environment whereby offers simply dry up until the prices climbs sharply.

Ultimately, ECU will be sold to a major producer. In fact, I suspect that the company could be sold for $1.50-$2.00 today but management knows the potential is ultimately much greater when any of the afore-mentioned events occur. This is the ultimate "check-mate" for a large naked-short position.