[PA Engineer]

I wonder if this was part of an effort by Slice Intelligence to short the stock. Happens all the time. Feed a media frenzy and profit from the drop in stock price.

[IncPen]

I wonder if this was part of an effort by Slice Intelligence to short the stock. Happens all the time. Feed a media frenzy and profit from the drop in stock price.

There has been speculation (specifically, in forums like SeekingAlpha) that the options market has been heavily manipulated to profit from shorts on Apple stock. I doubt that anyone will investigate it– where's the money in that?

But I know some longtime options players who won't touch Apple.

[Swordmaker]

I wonder if this was part of an effort by Slice Intelligence to short the stock. Happens all the time. Feed a media frenzy and profit from the drop in stock price.

AAPL certainly dropped by about 4% after this feeding frenzy hit and there are reports that some sold at the high, just before this started, and bought back in at the low of around 120. This is typical of what happens with FUD articles like the one engendered by Slice. Somebody made billions on the backs of little guys who panicked.