As a trader, I can buy a stock and hope it will go up, or I can buy a stock and help it along the way. You do this by moving the market and advertising the attractiveness of your position. Allow me to explain. People make investment decisions by gathering information from a number of sources. Some people follow the fundamentals, others check the charts.
Some people invest by the stars , others by their conscience .
As I wrote last week , I primarily use market orders to get into a position. Because this is a numbers game, people. Let's not underestimate the psychology of playing those numbers. Trading is an ongoing process of price discovery. In a free marketplace, the answer is determined every day.