February 18, 2009
I would like to request an investigation into the trading of Sirius XM (SIRI) over the past 4 days. There seems to be manipulation in the security to force or hold the price in check. I suspect that this is being done in order to cover an unusually large short position. Every day, the stock has been subject topainting the tap to force a lower closing price. Automated trades to 100 shares (value = $14 commission) seem to go through regularly to continue downward pressure on the stock. I have, as well as others, seen many trades go around the bid/ask. This generally occurs to gap the price lower.
I have written in the past to request investigations. All have resulted in inaction. This has now gone on for as long as I have been invested in this stock (over a year). I have witnessed the equity go from $3 (SIRI) and $12 (XMSR) pre-merger, to a combined stock currently trading at .14 (SIRI). The market cap that has been lost here is in the billions. The credit market continues to be tough. However, Sirius has continued to improve their bottom line and financials.
Last week (Feb 10th) the stock went from .11 to .05 on bankruptcy concerns. After resolving these concerns and getting debt taken care of for much of 2009, the stock briskly went from .10 to open at .19 on Feb17th. It hit a high of .23 before being forced down to .16 ( a drop of 33% from the high). Today, Feb 18th, the stock opened up at .18, and was once again forced down to a low of .13 (30% loss) before recovering to .14. The stock was pushed to these levels on bankruptcy concerns, but does not appear to have any chance to recover due to large block trades being thrown at the equity to knock down the price.
I know there is a lot of potential volatility in “qenny stock, however, this stock has been pushed from $3 down to pennies. The equipment that is owned is worth significantly more than the current market cap. Goldman Sachs is suspected of holding a very large short position in the stock.
I cannot say I have ever seen so much irregularity in any stock in my life. I would like to request that this SEC looks into these irregularities formally. I know others have contacted your offices. My hope is that this SEC will work harder for investors than previously. This sort of behavior in the marketplace severely destroys retail investor confidence in our markets. How Am I supposed to have a chance when the big guys are cheating around me to steal my hard-earned money?
Joe Maeder
PS. Bring back the uptick rule. There is a large amount of corruption in the markets due to the removal of this very important rule.