STOCK MARKET: Beware Manipulation Schemes

Posted on September 10, 2025 by Dr. David Edward Marcinko MBA MEd CMP™

By Dr. David Edward Marcinko MBA MEd CMP™

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What are types of market manipulation schemes?

Pump and Dump

Bear Raids

  • Refer to attempts by investors to move the price of a stock opportunistically by selling large numbers of shares short. The investors pocket the difference between the initial price and the new, lower price after this maneuver. This technique is illegal under SEC rules, which stipulate that every short sale must be on an uptick. For more information on this complex tactic, read on in this piece from the Wharton School of Business.

Wash Trading

Matched Orders

  • When fraudsters manipulate the market through matched orders, they enter trades to buy or sell securities with the knowledge that a matching order on the opposite side has been or will be entered. During his tenure at the Commission, our partner Jordan Thomas was involved in a case where the SEC won summary judgement and obtained settlements with an astonishing 16 defendants who engaged in matched trades, among other illicit tactics.

Painting the Tape

  • Painting the tape refers to placing successive orders in small amounts at increasing or decreasing prices.

Spoofing & Layering

  • High frequency traders are known to use the tactics of Spoofing & Layering to manipulate share prices. Spoofing is the placing of a bid or offer with the intent to cancel before execution. Layering is a form of spoofing in which the trader places multiple orders on one side of the book, in order to create a false impression of heavy buying or selling.
  • PONZI: https://medicalexecutivepost.com/2021/09/22/what-exactly-is-a-ponzi-scheme/

Read more about stock manipulation.

For further details about other common securities violations, see our Securities Law Primer.

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PUMPERS & DUMPERS: Social Media Influencers Charged in Scheme

Posted on December 16, 2022 by Dr. David Edward Marcinko MBA MEd CMP™

By Staff Reporters

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DEFINITION: Pump and dump (P&D) is a form of securities fraud that involves artificially inflating the price of an owned stock through false and misleading positive statements, in order to sell the cheaply purchased stock at a higher price. Once the operators of the scheme “dump” (sell) their overvalued shares, the price falls and investors lose their money. This is most common with small-cap cryptocurrencies and very small corporations/companies, i.e. “microcaps“.

CITE: https://www.r2library.com/Resource/Title/082610254

While fraudsters in the past relied on cold calls, the Internet now offers a cheaper and easier way of reaching large numbers of potential investors through spam email, investment research websites, social media, and misinformation.

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And so, Federal prosecutors and the SEC have accused seven popular Twitter and Discord users of wielding social media to manipulate stock prices—pumping the shares and then selling off mass quantities for profit once they rose.

An additional defendant, whose Twitter handle was @DipDeity, was charged with aiding and abetting the alleged fraud for hosting a podcast that featured and promoted the seven influencers as skilled traders to follow.

Each influencer charged had well over 100,000 followers and, according to the SEC, the group earned about $100 million total in the scheme.

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“Churning”, “Front Running” and “Pumping & Dumping”

Posted on October 25, 2021 by Dr. David Edward Marcinko MBA MEd CMP™

BE ALERT AND BE AWARE

By Dr. David E. Marcinko MBA CMP®

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Front Running (Definition, Examples) | How Traders Use it?

Churning: The practice of a provider seeing a patient more often than is medically necessary, primarily to increase revenue through an increased number of visits. A practice, in violation of SEC rules, where a salesperson affects a series of transactions in a customer’s account which are excessive in size and/or frequency in relation to the size and investment objectives of the account. An insurance agent who is churning an account is normally seeking to maximize the income (in commissions, sales credits or mark-ups) derived from the account.  

FRONT-RUNNING: Form of market manipulation where a broker/dealer delays processing of a large customer trade in an underlying security until the firm can execute an options trade in that security in anticipation of the client’ s trade impact on the underlying security.

Pump and dump: A a form of securities fraud that involves artificially inflating the price of an owned stock through false and misleading positive statements, in order to sell the cheaply purchased stock at a higher price. Once the operators of the scheme “dump” their overvalued shares, the price falls and investors lose their money.

Citation: https://www.r2library.com/Resource/Title/0826102549

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What Exactly is a PONZI SCHEME; etc?

Posted on September 22, 2021 by Dr. David Edward Marcinko MBA MEd CMP™

AND OTHER INVESTING SCAMS!

By Dr. David E. Marcinko MBA CMP®

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A Ponzi scheme (/ˈpɒnzi/, Italian: [ˈpontsi]) is a form of fraud that lures investors and pays profits to earlier investors with funds from more recent investors. Recall Bernie Madoff.

More: https://medicalexecutivepost.com/2010/06/04/the-madoff-circle/

The scheme leads victims to believe that profits are coming from legitimate business activity (e.g., product sales or successful investments), and they remain unaware that other investors are the source of funds. A Ponzi scheme can maintain the illusion of a sustainable business as long as new investors contribute new funds, and as long as most of the investors do not demand full repayment and still believe in the non-existent assets they are purported to own.

Link: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ponzi_scheme

A pyramid scheme is a business model that recruits members via a promise of payments or services for enrolling others into the scheme, rather than supplying investments or sale of products. As recruiting multiplies, recruiting becomes quickly impossible, and most members are unable to profit; as such, pyramid schemes are unsustainable and often illegal.

CITE: https://www.r2library.com/Resource/Title/0826102549

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How to Spot and Protect Yourself From Investment Fraud

Pyramid schemes have existed for at least a century in different guises. Some multi-level marketing plans have been classified as pyramid schemes.

And, there are MANY other schemes in the financial services sector.

MORE: https://www.msn.com/en-us/money/other/are-you-about-to-be-the-victim-of-a-ponzi-scheme/ar-BB1cqabu?li=BBnb7Kz

Front Running: https://medicalexecutivepost.com/2018/02/06/what-is-front-running/

Churning: https://medicalexecutivepost.com/2021/07/23/churning-front-running-and-pumping-dumping/

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