Does a one legged duck swim in circle? It rigged by the fed, the broker - dealers probably, in most cases do not have inside fed info because if the did, it would be on every Bloomberg hoot(communication tool) yelling to their cronies , friends and families and you know that will be scooped by some media outlets.
Is market minipulation done? Well does ponochio have a wooden pecker?
I can tell you for a cetanity, thinly traded positions are minpulated or gamed depenends on counterparty relationship; almost all bids and offers go through Bloomberg terminals.
Yeah, there is always potential of rigging, but big x factor today is fed policy. Fed policy is a man made disaster in a free market / trade environment.
Had a call from a business acquaintance who told me about a penny stock that was lightly traded and how we and some friends could set up a pump and dump scheme. I also know other folks in the same business that he approached with the same scam. I did not bite mainly cause I didn’t figure I would like prison food and didn’t want to be the last holder of the stock. This was in the ‘90’s when pump and dumps were all the rage. All markets are rigged where there is a lot of money involved, years ago the Mob was even involved. Nothing new under the sun.