I don’t think there is anyone out to ‘game’ CFC specifically. What I suspect is that there is some hedge fund(s) out there that watches for excessive shorting activity of some stock, then uses its large cash reserves to buy up (and run up the price). This forces a mad dash to cover the shorts, pumping up the price more, at which point the hedge fund dumps it.
So, I don’t think the run up is related to the bad news directly, other than it attracted a rush of little-fish shorters.
