There are also only ~5k BTC between $100 increments on the bid side at any given time. You wouldn't have to dump the whole purse to create a massive impact.
Why? If you're trying to push the price down, you'd get a whole hell of a lot of help from margin calls along the way. Imagine if the US Federal Reserve, now that its bought up all the MBS assets it wants, reestablished the market and pegged it to treasuries, allowed investors to speculate on the price, and then ended up anonymously bullying the bonds through wave after wave of margin calls...wouldn't be too different, as ASICMINER (acting as a presumably significant part of the network) literally performs the exact same money-printing function for what is currently an inflationary currency.
Why? If you're trying to push the price down, you'd get a whole hell of a lot of help from margin calls along the way. Imagine if the US Federal Reserve, now that its bought up all the MBS assets it wants, reestablished the market and pegged it to treasuries, allowed investors to speculate on the price, and then ended up anonymously bullying the bonds through wave after wave of margin calls...wouldn't be too different, as ASICMINER (acting as a presumably significant part of the network) literally performs the exact same money-printing function for what is currently an inflationary currency.
Shallowness of btc exchanges is a real issue and large players are surely trying to ride it. Also, big industrial mining operations are only adding to the downside pressure.
Another question is if AM is engaging in such speculative endeavors. Frankly, though AM could profit from btc price weekness, I would be extremely surprised
finding this being the case.