Terra Tech Corp. (OTCMKTS:TRTC) Thunders Down on Increased Volume

The slow incremental decline of Terra Tech Corp. (OTCMKTS:TRTC)’s share price escalated on Friday. The ticker dropped 13%, slicing six cents off the price and stopping at $0.40 per share. TRTC moved its third biggest share volume for the past month, at 8.2 million shares changing hands.

There have been no new filings and announcements coming from the company within the last few days so it’s difficult to link the double-digit drop to any recent negative info coming out. Of course, being stuck in a slide that pressed the share price from a hyped-up high of $1.40 down to under $0.50 has the potential to scare newcomers who got in during the March climb and are now looking at significant losses.

Investors on discussion boards are just now getting in a bit of a fuss about the insider trading action that took place back in March and April. Treasurer and secretary Ms. Amy Almeister first cashed out 350,000 shares in March, at a then-inflated price of $1.25 per share, for a total of $437 thousand. This insider sale was followed by Ms. Almeister buying 100,000 shares once TRTC had crashed to $0.58 in mid-April.

On April 17 we covered those events and the subsequent reaction of TRTC. The company actually charged Ms. Almeister $67 thousand for violating Section 16(b) of the SEC Act of 1934 with those two trades. Readers should be able to figure out on their own whether this was sufficient to completely settle the matter or it was just a publicity stunt aiming to show how much management cares about shareholder interest.

The original 8-K filing detailing the $67 thousand settlement did not cause a huge commotion on the charts when it came out but following it, TRTC managed to close green only three times. Whether this is a signal for a decrease of investor confidence or it’s just that people are abandoning ship as the price keeps sliding cannot really be determined.

The pot sector is pulling back as a whole, with many companies gradually sliding down from the highs charted in the first months of 2014. mCig, Inc. (OTCBB:MCIG) dropped nearly 13% on Friday, to a close of $0.36 per share. Medical Marijuana, Inc. (OTCMKTS:MJNA) is idling around $0.18 per share, well below the $0.40 it reached in late January.