No comments on this? This is the most interesting description of the phenomenon I've seen yet! Really nice writing.

Is there a way to know the amount of naked shorts that were sold? Wouldn't most folks (including market makers) agree that Naked shorts are obviously evil?

Surely it's illegal to organise like this? It's probably true that Wall Street firms sometimes collude to manipulate the market, but I assume they'd be in trouble if they got caught...