Was he buying to prop up the SP or was he buying because he...

Was he buying to prop up the SP or was he buying because he believed the SP would rise. I agree he probably was leveraged too highly but to suggest that he was actively buying to prop up the share price seems a bit of a stretch to me. It's possible and it does happen but I think there is just as much chance that he belived the SP would rise. He certainly wasn't buying and churning to the same degree that the hedge funds were shortselling recently. As to the 2 different margin call dates, when they sold on the first date they probably sold to bring him back under 100%LVR but still not the normal LVR and hoping he could provide other security. He would have been hoping the MS ann would have a positive affect on the SP and when trading commenced again and the SP dived again they sold him out.