Vancouver Venture

$72 million tax loss bidding war

2013-06-18T10:38:00.000-07:00

It looks like Allon Therapeutics has got a last minute white knight willing to pay more that $900,001 for $70 million in tax loss carry forwards.

Allon Therapeutics Inc. has provided an update related to its news release dated May 30, 2013, regarding the proposal made by the company to its creditors pursuant to the Bankruptcy and Insolvency Act (Canada). The company has been advised that Deloitte & Touche Inc., as proposal trustee, has received an unsolicited offer from a third party. The company understands that the trustee is investigating this matter and will provide updates to creditors as or when more information becomes available.

So what is the Ebay bid up to now for Allon, $900,002?

How is the Biozoom Pump "n" Dump doing?

2013-06-18T10:19:00.000-07:00

Since Friday I noticed the market cap of Biozoom has zoomed from $180 million to $240 million.

The poor suckers that are getting ~~sheared~~ shorn in this deal.

This video sums up the inevitable outcome.

Warning...click on the Family Guy sheep shearing video below at your own risk!

You have been warned!

So you went ahead and clicked on the video didn't you? I told ya!, you were warned!

Biozoom pump and dump part 2

2013-06-14T19:10:00.001-07:00

My last post summarized the coles notes on how to manufacture an OTC pump and dump. For those who want college credits on the subject go to this site.

http://promotionstocksecrets.com/biozoom-inc-bizm-this-pump-dump-seems-all-too-familiar/

It walks you through the process and if you read it to the end you get 3 credits at the University of Phoenix's OTC Pump and Dump 101 course.

Biozoom: My Biofeedback monitor tells me this is another OTC pump and dump

2013-06-14T15:07:00.000-07:00

This is outside the usual realm of Vancouver Venture but since Biozoom hired some outfit in the UK to send out spam that ends up in my inbox, all is fair.

Now follow along.

First you have to lay the groundwork, you get some OTC shell that had $0.00 in cash at the end of December 2012 with a total of 59,730,000 shares issued for $0.001/share for a grand total of $59,730.00

Next you reinvent the Mood Ring and you create an app for it, create a slick website etc etc etc...

Since you own the majority of the stock it is time to go public. Six months ago you had $0.00 in assets, the RTO instantly values you at $60 million.

Now that you are public it is time to ramp it up with news releases with the following key words:

Biozoom Reveals Breakthrough Consumer Product For Massive Fitness, Health And Wellness Markets: Handheld, Real Time Biofeedback Scanner

Including the following:
"$1 trillion global market"
"Poised to be a major force in that growth"
"Proven effective"
"Future Visions"
"What the healthcare and health and wellness market have been waiting for"

Don't forget the celebrity endorsement from some dude in Germany:

Bestselling Author, Chef And Wellness Celebrity, Attila Hildmann, To Use Biozoom Scanner In His New Fitness Challenge

With the news now being pumped out, time to get the news letter guys on board. Their hype is calling it the "Real Star Trek Medical Scanner". (500 million emails for only $49.99)

Get your news letter writer to throw in key words as follows:

The Future Of Health Care And Self-Care

Given Biozoom’s incredible advancements in nano-optics, it’s only a matter of time before analysts and the mainstream media get wind of the story. The company will not fly under the radar of Wall Street gurus for long.

It’s difficult to put a ceiling on the growth of a technology company with a cutting-edge technology, especially in the booming healthcare sector.

The company could grow to the point where Biozoom absolutely dominates the biometric device niche – or they might become a prime target for an industry giant to acquire. Either way, Biozoom (BIZM) could be one of the best tech stocks for 2013 and beyond.

BTW: never ever mentions sales to date because you can't buy one yet!

Voila Biozoom has just zoomed to $180,000,000 in market cap in one month on volume of 50+ million shares or almost your entire float.

It's Friday at Biozoom, it has been a good week, time for the hookers and coke!

How Low Will RIO Go contest closes today!

2013-06-14T09:18:00.002-07:00

The genius marketing minds along with the wealth management, philanthropists and the summer shipping intern here at Vancouver Venture would like to remind all contestants that their low ball guesses are welcome until 11:59:59 pm PST today.

Having a hard time making a decision? Let me help you out!

The $2.36 and $2.37 trade is pretty crowded so pick another price.

Here is a 3 month chart for RIO, are those candlesticks any indication?

How about those insider trades, they are always a good indicator right?

Don't forget the call from Stonecap Securities this week, market movers extraordinaire!

Rio Alto Mining Ltd : Stonecap Securities raises rating to outperform from sector perform, believes that the recent share price weakness represents an attractive entry point for investors.

Want to be the next CEO at Lululemon?

2013-06-13T13:47:00.001-07:00

Group interviews are being conducted at 2pm for a new CEO at the Robson St. store in Vancouver. Bring your resume, water bottle and yoga mat!

Be prepared to answer a series of interview questions during your downward dog posture.

* Dudes need not apply!

Spot the client order

2013-06-13T10:56:00.000-07:00

All the guesses coming in on RIO has got me looking at the market depth and maybe a place to pick a few shares up.

With CIBC, Merrill Lynch and UBS synonymous with HFT, I have to ask: Is there anyone that can fog a mirror actually have an order in on this stock?

I think I see one or two low ballers at Canaccord, maybe Newedge has a real person behind the order and I will give the benefit of the doubt to the TD order circled.

The rest of the market orders seem to be originating from here.

Update: Here is the net house positions from yesterday. Out of the 1,562 transactions CIBC, UBS and Merrill account for 593 buy orders or 38% and 24% of the sell orders. CIBC ended up short 16,000 shares, UBS long 23,000 shares and Merrill short 5800 shares on the day. HFT creates so much noise in a market place no wonder the retail guy has gone the way of the cave man.

If CIBC, UBS and Merrill's HFT bots account for close to 40% of the trading then the marginal HFT players must account for another 10%.

And who said HFT was good for the market?

The HFT argument is added liquidity and the for "Profit" exchanges allow HFT to boost their bottom line, then I have a suggestion.

I think $1.00 should be charged just to enter an order, I would gladly pay $10.95 per order versus $9.95 per order to have all the HFT board lots weeded out of the system. It would clear the noise and if HFT is that profitable then the TSX would have made an extra $596 alone off the CIBC bots yesterday.

12:58 screen shot update:

I guess a few real orders came into RIO today and the Algo's took over from there. Check the last sales CIBC to CIBC, two algo's trading to each other. Is there really a change in beneficial ownership or is this just washed trading?

Market depth looks decent in the shot above until you see the order book. 90%+ algo houses!

Backside of Corvus

2013-06-12T11:44:00.002-07:00

After being publicly mocked and humiliated by IWNATTOS on my Corvus call. I would like to say I think I am now staring at the backside of my Corvus trade.

Now I can load up on Rio whenever it stops puking.

"How Low Will RIO Go" spoiler alert!

2013-06-12T09:34:00.001-07:00

Did Stonecap* Securities just throw a monkey wrench into my massive wealth giveaway contest?

Rio Alto Mining Ltd : Stonecap Securities raises rating to outperform from sector perform, believes that the recent share price weakness represents an attractive entry point for investors.

Since the sector has been performing to the down side does this mean that RIO is going to outperform going down? And does this "weakness" represents an attractive entry point for investors to short?

I see Stonecap has been a net seller for the past 30 days, but they got nothing on GMP Securities and RBC.

* Stonecap has not emailed me an entry

Did Charles Oliver not get Rick's memo?

2013-06-11T13:16:00.001-07:00

I was surprised to see Charles Oilver's Senior Portfolio Manager at Sprott Asset Management comment on Ivanplats during BNN's market minute.

Right at the end of the clip during market call minute he indicates the following:

"Don't own it"
"Has concerns about mines in South Africa"
"Do not go there"

With Rick touting Ivanplats as one of his top 3 picks did someone not get the memo?

Vancouver Venture Silver Bullion Contest

2013-06-11T12:00:00.000-07:00

The genius minds behind the marketing department, portfolio management and silver stacker's here at Vancouver Venture headquarters invite the readers of this pathetic blog to enter the "How Low Will RIO Go" contest.

Up for grabs is this fine half ounce First Majestic coin which I will mail to you at the contest end.

All you have to do is study the two charts below and pick a price that the funds will finally stop puking up their position on Rio Alto. In other words pick a bottom. The entry with the closest prices wins!

Email your prediction by Friday June 14th 2013 to bankofdave@gmail.com.

The winner will be announced when Rio finally capitulates and reverses the trend with a double bottom or a hammer candlestick.

* one entry per person, in case of multiple enteries for the winning price the first entry that guesses right wins.

Incakolanews drills a hole in the Atico story

2013-06-04T19:02:00.001-07:00

Since I have followed Atico and blogged about them a few times, I have a sense of duty to my readers that do not make the trek over to IKN. Otto's recent uncovering of the conflict of interest by Casey Research on Atico Mining is worth reading and maybe espousing upon.

A quick Google of "Casey Research Atico" and "International Speculator Atico" yielded some interesting results.

First off is "Casey Research Atico" Which got me to this story.

Dated February 2013 with Marin Katusa, you can read the whole article but here is the meat of the matter.

L: So what do you look for in that kind of situation? Very near-term Push? Focus on quick wins, rather than big wins?
Marin: Yes. For example, we recommended Atico and PRD Energy at the Casey conference last September, and both have more than doubled since then. Anything we recommend has to have cash in the bank, management have to be the largest shareholders, and they have to go for assets that matter – can really move the needle, by delivering sustainable cash flow. Like you, we start with the People. That's absolutely critical.

That sums it up, focus on quick wins and recommend the stock to your followers.

Now on to the "International Speculator Atico" search where we find all the right cast and crew with positive comments on Atico.

We have: The Gold Report Interview with Tobias Tretter, Erik Bermel, M Partners, The Gold Report Interview with Brent Cook, The Metals Report Interview with Brent Cook and
The Gold Report Interview with Paul Harris.

Atico needs to raise $14,000,000 by January 2014 just to exercise the El Roble option and probably another $25,000,000 in working capital until El Roble is able to spin free cash. Rick Rule and Doug Casey know the "Golden Rule", (no pun) Atico will come to the market with hat in hand and with 3.3 million more shares in their back pocket Rick, Doug and friends can dictate the price.

No wonder Rick always looks so smug on camera.

Venture Exchange May stats

2013-06-04T10:08:00.000-07:00

Pssssssssssssssssssssss.

Western Potash Claims "He did it"

2013-06-04T09:48:00.000-07:00

An interesting headline came across the Stockwatch page in regards to Western Potash's recent 20% equity sale to the Chinese at $0.71/share, a ten month high in the stock no less.

Now of course Western Potash has denied all goings on and it would not be in their best interest to sell a 20% interest in their Company at lets say $0.50/share.

Nor would I assume the Chinese would say, instead of paying $0.50/share we would really, really like to pay $0.71/share for 20% of your Company.

And so the IIROC investigation begins and since Western Potash has a OTC listing FINRA will have their laytex gloves on too.

IIROC will pull every transaction since May 1 and will question any account holder of size that sold into the rally. IIROC will also give a list of account names to the Directors, Officers and Employees of Western Potash and ask them if they know or have any relations to the account names.

Western Potash should fear not as they are as "alarmed" as anyone else in the market.

FP says Western Potash "alarmed" by suspicious trading
2013-06-04 08:56 ET - In the News

The Financial Post reports in its Tuesday edition Western Potash was putting the finishing touches on a Chinese financing last week, the company was also in contact with regulators regarding the trading of its stock. The Post's Peter Koven writes management at Vancouver-based Western became alarmed as the stock shot to 73 cents over a few days from 56 cents, with trading volumes that were more than double normal levels. The company finally announced the $32-million financing on Sunday, which was priced at 71 cents a share. The stock traded right at that level on Thursday and Friday, which many market watchers found suspicious. It then dropped 11 per cent on Monday, even though the news was clearly a positive for the company. John Costigan, vice-president of corporate development at Western Potash, said the company contacted the Investment Industry Regulatory Association of Canada (IIROC) twice last week regarding the unusual trading. "We don't know what's going on," he said. "We would have much rather had [no change in the stock] and done the deal at 71 cents. It would have been a fantastic deal at a big premium." He said there are "always rumours" and there could have been a leak on the Chinese side.

The chart tells a story unto itself.

I am not sure if we have heard the end to this story.

Americas Petrogas BOE.V on sale

2013-06-03T12:01:00.001-07:00

I scooped up 3000 shares of Americas Petrogas today as it is trading down near support of $1.50/share. I am looking at BOE.V as a trade only and will trade it back out at the $1.85ish level.

I just manipulated Santacruz Silver down 3.88% on the day

2013-05-31T12:00:00.000-07:00

I just manipulated Santacruz Silver down 3.88% on the day by making the Algo Bots trade the stock down.

First off ITG Canada, Paradigm Capital and UBS Securities all seem to be Algo Bots as they can CFO an order at the moment I put my order in, not only that but they front run my sell order.

I am represented by Credential in the samples below.

Silver is off for the day so the Bots seem to be working the offer side of the market. I tried a variety of bids but it did not attract the Bots on the buy side.

To start, the market on Santacruz was $1.29-$1.33 and I offered 1700 shares at $1.30. I do not have a screen shot of my offer in as I had not quite caught on to how I was manipulating the Bots.

As soon as my offer went in ITG hit the $1.29 bid within nanoseconds. I left my offer in at $1.30. Four minutes later I moved my offer to $1.28 and Paragon and UBS smacked SCZ down to $1.26. As you can see ITG Paragon and UBS are the only sellers.

I then cancelled my orders and put 1000 to sell at $1.27, subsequently the balance of the $1.26 bids got filled by UBS, ITG and Paragon. Then the Bots decided to print the $1.24 trades.

I opted to throw in a $1.25 offer between the bid and ask to see if the Bots would follow. Look at the time stamp on Paradigm and ITG on their CFO, 4 seconds! I also threw myself in on the buy side to see it there was any front running there. Nope.

I opted to cancel all my offers to see what would happen next. The Bots stayed at $1.25 and tapped the $1.24 bid a bit more.

I opted to throw 2700 to go at $1.27 to see what reaction I would get from the Bots. Nothing on the offer but a bit more bid tapping.

So there you have me versus 3 algorithms trying to predict what the retail guy is doing and front run it. Not only are the Bots trading against me but they are trading against themselves. By entering my order at $1.30 and manipulating my sells I managed to get the Bots to trade Santacruz down to $1.24.

Who the hell is ITG Canada you ask?

Find out here. http://www.itg.com/ Looks like they specialize in algorithmic strip mining.

We designed our sophisticated automated trading strategies to reduce market impact, maximize execution quality, and improve trading performance. We combine trading experience, unique analytical insight, and technological expertise to help you improve strategy selection and performance.

Coming soon "The Venture Exchange Promoters Wall of Shame"

2013-05-30T22:32:00.002-07:00

As the Venture Exchange starts to par down the listed companies and weed out the bad/useless/self serving/ directors and promoters I am going to start the "Venture Exchange Wall of of Shame"

The premise of the wall of shame is as follows:

You are only as good as your last deal and if your last deal sucked, your a candidate!

Promoters are like cockroaches they disappear when things suck and resurface again on the next cycle to mine the wallets of a new generation of speckers, hoping the market forgets.

Well fear not, the infamous "Venture Exchange Wall of Shame" will be coming soon to this corner of the blogsphere. If the BCSC can not weed out the shysters then I guess it is up to this pathetic blogger to help guide the poor sheep that are ready to be sheared.

If you are a sub par promoter/president living large of the treasury, don't worry your rap will live for infinity for the rest of us too "never forget."

I have a list already in my head and I am sure there are a few followers that could cite a promoter or two that should be avoided like chlamydia. Hell I might even throw in a few newsletter writer into the mix.

The Golden Rule

2013-05-30T22:13:00.001-07:00

The Golden Rule states "He who has the gold makes the rules" as the shareholders of Allon Therapeutics found out today. Paladin Labs has the "Gold".

Now I took a punter on Allon Therapeutics post failure at the hands of the FDA clinical trials of their lead drug Davunetide. The punt was 240,000 shares at $0.01 and here was my reasoning.

First, my son and Gordon McCauley's son played soccer on the same team so there is a personal relationship there. Second I saw that there was value in a TSX listed shell with some cash still in the treasury and lastly Allon Therapeutics had $52 million Canadian and $20 million US in tax loss carry forwards, this is when a loss becomes an asset.

Now I am not a Biotech investor in any way, in my experience Biotech is the most riskiest speculation you can make. I saw value in that $72 million tax loss and figured it was worth at least $5+/- million to a company and Allon would get bought out for $0.02-$0.05/share.

Well it looks like $72 million in tax loss carry forward is worth exactly $1.00 to the shareholders of Allon and $900,000 to the creditors.

Ms. Carrie Christenson reports

ALLON ANNOUNCES THE FILING OF A PROPOSAL WITH CREDITORS AND REORGANIZATION

Allon and Paladin Labs Inc. have executed a non-binding term sheet outlining Paladin's expression of interest to obtain all of the issued and outstanding shares of Allon through a reorganization of Allon's share structure. The key terms of the transaction are as follows: redemption of all issued and outstanding shares of Allon for $1 in the aggregate; cash payment by Paladin to Allon in the amount of $900,000; cancellation of all outstanding employee stock options and other agreements granting rights to subscribe for purchase any shares or other securities in Allon; a reorganization pursuant to the Canada Business Corporations Act whereby Allon's articles will be amended eliminating current classes of shares and creating a new class of common shares which shall, at closing, be issued to Paladin; and obtaining of all necessary court and regulatory approvals prior to the closing date, which must occur no later than Aug. 1, 2013.

Good on Paladin on for brokering a deal to defer $72 million in profits going forward for $900,001, shitty on Gordon McCauley for not securing a better deal for the shareholders of Allon. So shitty that the news release was reported by Carrie Christenson and not the CEO, Gordon. To give Gordon any benefit of the doubt this was probably the best/only deal on the table

Yeah, I know it was a purely speculative punt but I figured the ball would have gone further done the field. Another tax loss carry forward and another lesson to stay away from those dreaded Biotech startups.

Dark Trading Pools and HFT explained

2013-05-24T09:58:00.001-07:00

Ever since the change of major North American stock exchanges to a for profit model they have all become infected with High Frequency Trading as the emphasis has changed from quality of trade executions to quantity of trade executions and there is only one winner. An algorithm trading machine.

Need a deeper explanation on the effects of Dark Pools and HFT? Skip on over to BNN and watch this segment with Doug Clark from ITG Canada.

http://watch.bnn.ca/business-day/business-day-am-may-2013/business-day-am-may-24-2013/#clip933397

DHX Media being groomed for the alter

2013-05-24T09:38:00.001-07:00

My regular Sunday MAMIL ride got me into a conversation about DHX Media (DHX.TO) on the long weekend. I picked up 1800 shares of DHX recently at $2.80 on the back of a string of announcements regarding their massive library of kids shows. And as any parent knows, a TV channel full of cartoons has become the baby sitter of choice these days. Plop junior down in front of Caillou episode and you just freed up an hour or two in your life.

From what I gather from my buddies in related industries is that DHX Media is really looking for a take out candidate as an exit at some point. When, where and at what price, I do not know nor am I privy to any insider information, it seems the consensus is that this is the game plan for DHX.

On thing that is for sure is the chart is going the right direction.

Now back to watching The Adventures of Paddington Bear.

Reigning in the trading

2013-05-24T09:11:00.000-07:00

It appears that fund outflow is still prevalent in the PM sector as the price of gold has stabilized for the time being but the mining stocks continue their downward path.

I have been looking for trading opportunities in the sector as there is usually volatility to profit from but the bounces are not manifesting themselves. In fact any news is now a liquidity event to sell off more stock.

I have found myself a new type of mining company, a company that mines your bank account with service fees because you are too lazy, drunk or inconvenienced to make it to your own financial intuitions ATM machine. And it pays a 5% dividend! (Listen to me, crikey mate, have I changed from being a risk on cowboy riding the bucking bronco of the Venture Exchange to seeking out dividend growth stories. My, my, my how this market has changed me.)

I have been plucking away at Direct Cash Inc. DCI.TO ($25.00/share) and if you ever see one of these machines around and used it, thank you, you have just been docked another $2.50 service fee.

The story at DCI is that they are consolidating the fragmented indpendent cash machine business in Canada, England and Australia. I can live with a company that profits from people that are lazy or inconvenienced and are willing to be docked a service fee.

Corvus Gold finds the power but keeps looking for bids

2013-05-16T16:28:00.000-07:00

Corvus Gold gave out this news release today that mixed a non material change in corporate affairs with a material change in corporate affairs. When ever I see these two mixed into one news release I always feel the Company has something to hide. These are two separate events and credibility is better preserved by announcing the resignation in one news release first and then a few days later letting the world know you got hooked to the grid.

CORVUS GOLD SECURES ELECTRICAL POWER AT THE NORTH BULLFROG PROJECT, NEVADA, ANNOUNCES DIRECTOR DEPARTURE
Corvus Gold Inc. has made significant progress in securing electrical power for the North Bullfrog project near Beatty, Nev. Valley Electric Association of Pahrump, Nev., will upgrade its existing electrical facilities, on the eastern portion of the project, beginning in mid-2013 and complete the necessary upgrades by 2014. This upgrade assures that adequate power will be available for all future mining operations at the project.
Carl Brechtel, chief operating officer of Corvus, stated: "An adequate and economical power source is a key infrastructural component to this project, which already has excellent access, favourable topography, a low strip ratio, good heap leach gold recovery and a talented local work force. These improvements to the power supply infrastructure represent a significant benefit to Corvus Gold in the development of the North Bullfrog mining project."
Director departure
The company announces that Daniel Carriere will be leaving its board of directors effective today to focus his efforts on his primary business interests. The company would like to thank Mr. Carriere for his important contributions to Corvus Gold over the past 2.5 years during its start-up phase and wishes him well with his current and future endeavours.

As per IWNATTOS post on my prime view of Corvus's backside view, I might as well pull up the comfy chair, make some popcorn and get the snugglie out, as I am here for awhile. Oh, and that $0.75 share I was hoping for, well I have had to take my expectations much much lower and ~~hope~~ ~~pray~~ ~~beg~~ ask for divine intervention to get off this position at $0.65.

Judging by the chart above and the market depth below perhaps some bids might be found in the $0.40/share range and I do stress perhaps. At this point it looks like one or more of the funds that got on board this deal are selling at any cost.

Wait, what was that Mr. Market?

" you think you bought something on the cheap? I'll really show you what cheap is".

Thank you sir, may I have another?

Silver Bullion Selling for $100 ounce.

2013-05-16T11:40:00.000-07:00

The Canadian Mint is not to be out done by some legend like McEwen Mining over pricing an one ounce silver bullion coin.

No, no, no, the mint has stepped up and issued an one ounce silver bullion coin with a face value of $100 and a melt value of what ever spot is today.

Call now as strict limits of 3 coins per household are enforced. Only 50,000 are available to ~~suckers~~ investors.

Think $100 for one ounce of silver is too much, then skip on over to the McEwen Mining site where silver is on sale for $50.00. But wait there is an AGM special on where you save 15%. That is a low low low price of $42.50 an ounce.

Or if I was going to keep stacking why not just pay $27.00 an ounce over at First Majestic.

Besides a lottery ticket this has got to be another great way to tax stupidity.

Daniela Cambone at the New York Hard Asset Show

2013-05-15T13:42:00.001-07:00

Probably the best thing that happened at the New York Hard Asset Show is Daniela Cambone doing interviews.

Watch how everyone can not stop smiling in the presence of Daniela as they spell doom and gloom for the industry.

BTW we are not there yet. We will be there when the sell off in the PM's is not amplified threefold by the miners. (Example: Silver is off 3.59% and First Majestic is off 9%) When the PM's drop 5% and the miners are flat then you know they have hit bottom.

Brent Cook says we are not there until Stan Bharti starts doing tech deals.

So put on your Daniela Cambone rubber boots, makes some popcorn, sit back and enjoy the doom and gloom.

Mr. Market by Benjamin Graham

2013-05-09T10:31:00.002-07:00

A little something to think about.

He is your eternal partner in investing. He is patient if somewhat bipolar fellow. Subject to wild mood swings, he is always willing to offer you a bid or an ask. If you are a buyer, he is a seller - and vice versa. But do not mistake this for generosity: He is your opponent. He likes to make you look like a fool. Sell him shares at a nice profit, and he happily takes the prices so much higher you are embarrassed to even mention him again. Buy something from him on the cheap, and he will show you exactly what cheap is. And perhaps most frustrating thing of all, Mr Market has no ego - he does not care about being right or wrong; he only exists to separate the rubes from their money.