Leaderboard

Chat with Geminie to see how AI explain this pattern: The consistent appearance of 100-share "board lots" in the tape, especially during the pre-earnings reversals you noted, strongly suggests institutional algorithmic activity rather than retail sentiment. Why 100-Share Lots Point to Institutions Standard Unit of Trading: On the Toronto Stock Exchange (TSX), 100 shares is the standard "board lot". Algorithms are programmed to execute in these standard units to ensure the best possible execution and to remain "invisible" within the normal flow of the market. "Iceberg" Orders: Institutions often have millions of dollars to move. To avoid moving the price too much against themselves, they use algorithms to slice a massive order into hundreds of smaller 100-share "slices". This is why you see the same size (100 shares) hitting the tape repeatedly—it is likely one large institution slowly unloading or accumulating a position. Retail Capital Constraints: Very few retail traders have the capital or the risk tolerance to place $250,000 into a single trade, especially on a stock that, as you've observed, frequently reverses by 4-5% in a single day. Motives for Driving the Price Down (Without Options) Since there are no options, the motive for driving the price down pre-earnings is likely inventory management and liquidity hunting: Stop-Loss Hunting: By aggressively selling 100-share blocks, institutions can trigger technical sell-signals or "stop-loss" orders from smaller players. When those stops hit, it creates a "cascade" of selling, allowing the institution to buy back the shares they just sold (plus more) at a significantly lower price. Inventory De-risking: Ahead of an earnings report (which carries binary risk), some institutions may be required by their internal risk models to trim their positions. The "reversal" you see is the market absorbing these large sell programs. Accumulation before a "Beat": If an institution expects a strong earnings beat, they may use a "shakedown" strategy—driving the price lower to clear out weak hands so they can build a larger position at a lower cost-basis before the actual news breaks. In summary, the 100-share lot size at this price point is almost a "fingerprint" of institutional algorithms managing large-scale capital flows.