As I understand it, all brokerage houses and their agents (brokers) are under SEC regulation. These MMs use lots of tatics to show what they are willing to do and at what price. You and I would not try so hard to make ~$0.005 per share, but these folks do it enough that it makes sense to them.

I've had the same thing happen with orders. After a while, I either just cancel or put in a linit price very close to the ask. The last time I bough PTSC, it took two days to fill within $0.005 of the ask. Go figure. The legalities of MMs is a tough subject. I've read a lot about what they can and cannot do. It seems to me that the SEC simply does not go after the problems in any serious way. It is probably a case where most of the brokers play in the grey area and a few are outright thieves.

John

PS Yep, I seem to like everything from the Alexander Valley. It that area next to Sonoma?