Yes, there's a lot of stock manipulation which can go on, but the regualtors are quite savvy on this now, but I am sure some people still push the boundaries.
I know of someone who usess aliases which mimick those of big well known millionaires, so he buys a stock early in the morning in his name. Then he palces a massive order in the alias name, this lead to stock market anticipating rumours or build up of positive sentiments towards a share price, he sells his true holding with a profit then cancels the big order in the alias name. Comes out with a good margin on top for doing nothing. When you talk about big money here it makes a difference i.e. 5% to 15% of 1million, doing this several times a day day in and day out....they rake it in.
And there's so many other tricks, but people do go to jail for this. Insider dealing is a big one and still goes on, the best and biggest don't get caught, I think they only manage to see the tip of the iceberg.
Will defo pick that book up, thanks for the heads up.