even assuming he runs a ponzi, buying high and selling low still doesn't make any sense )
Agreed. But he admits he buys above 9 and sells below 8. It really doesn't matter what he's doing with other peoples money, when it's so easy to profit yourself just by trading against him.
I presume he's the volatility maker...things need to move a certain amount up and down for anyone to make money in a system where there is no intrinsic safety buffer provided by short selling. He needs to recycle his cash on each swing. He makes each swing happen by using a small amount of funds to drive the price down and a larger amount to drive it up. The hyper-reactive lemmings do most of the dirty work for him by accepting the new price he sets and push the trend up or down farther than pirate has funds for. Then he capitalizes by trading against himself, much like the OP has been doing. I made 10% in one day by following similar logic (I used 8 and 8.75 as targets).