I am also a long term investor. Sometimes trade, but usually not.

What worries me here is the long term effects on PEM and its investors, not the short term.

If the price is being manipuated for the reasons we are speculating on, then PEM has to sell more shares at a far lower price than it otherwise should have to. In other words, it results in a much larger share dilution than it should.

If it is is temporary phenomenon, and corrects by the time PEM needs more funds, or options and warrants reach expiry, then there is "no harm, no foul".

The unethical parts - if present - are:

It "wipes out" the value of current Options and Warrant holders - whose investments have expiry dates - they have no chance to "just wait it out". The (small) plus side of this is that associated shares are also not issued. But that is an effect that is overshadowed by the next one.

In the case of a PP or secondary offering, it causes more shares to be issued (for the same dollar amount) from the company - than would otherwise have happened - and gives new shareholders unfair preference over prior shareholders. Likewise, any warrants and options that are issued in conjuction with the new shares (often happens) will also have unfair advantages over current share, warrant, and option holders (those that have not yet expired) as they will be issued at lower strike prices than they otherwise would.

Your already purchased shares, and my already purchased shares will not appreciate, even in the long term, to the same level as they should have, since there are more slices to the whole pie than there should have been. The size of the pie is the same, but I have a smaller percentage of it.

Finally, it could force the company to offer more shares for sale, since the funds from the exercised options and warrants will not be forthcoming. This results in more "friction" - that is funds going from the company and investors to the "brokers" and "bankers".

These are long-term effects on both the company (not as much) and current shareholders (much more so).

That is why I care.

If it happens as a result of market forces that are not consciously being managed, then that is one thing.

If it is a deliberate ploy by investors with deep pockets (institutional or otherwise) to take a disproportionate share of the profits from investing in PEM, then I am royally ticked about it.