Shares of MP Materials Corp (MP) were having a rough Thursday, down about 8%. It’s the kind of day where the market gives you two problems for the price of one: a big, scary geopolitical headline that spooks everyone, and some company-specific news that makes investors look twice at their own stock.

Let’s start with the big picture. Global markets were getting jittery over reports of attacks on major energy sites in the Middle East, specifically Iran’s South Pars gas field and Qatar’s Ras Laffan LNG facility. When stuff like that happens, it doesn’t matter what you mine or make—if you’re a stock, you’re probably going down. The Nasdaq fell 0.72%, the S&P 500 dropped 0.58%, and the materials sector, where MP lives, was hit even harder, sliding 2.4%.

So MP was already swimming against the tide. Then you add in the company-specific stuff: people who know the company best were selling shares. According to reports, CFO Ryan Corbett sold $2.76 million worth of stock on March 17. That sale reduced his total ownership by more than a quarter. Meanwhile, General Counsel Elliot Hoops has been selling down his position since January, effectively cashing out.

Now, insider selling happens. Sometimes it’s for personal reasons like buying a house or diversifying. But when it’s your CFO and your top lawyer, and it happens to coincide with the stock taking a dive on bad news, well, it doesn’t exactly inspire confidence. It’s like seeing the captain and the navigator quietly getting into a lifeboat.

Against this backdrop, it’s worth checking what the skeptics are up to. The short interest picture for MP is interesting. The latest data shows bearish bets have actually declined slightly, from 24.79 million shares to 23.32 million. Still, 14.41% of the company’s available shares are sold short. At the current average trading volume, it would take short sellers about 4.85 days to buy back all those shares if they needed to cover their bets quickly.

From a technical standpoint, the chart tells a story of a pullback. The stock is trading about 11.3% below its 20-day moving average and 12.2% below its 100-day average. That suggests the intermediate-term trend has turned lower. The Relative Strength Index (RSI) is sitting at 45.71, which is neutral territory—not oversold yet. The MACD indicator is negative and below its signal line, another sign of downward momentum.

Here’s the twist, though: even after this drop, MP shares are still up a whopping 96% over the past 12 months. The stock is currently positioned closer to its 52-week low than its high, but let’s not forget it had a phenomenal run. For traders watching the levels, key resistance is seen around $61.50, while support sits near $51.00.

By the end of the session, the damage was clear: MP Materials shares were down 9.26% at $52.21. It was a bad day driven by a bad global headline and some uncomfortable news from the executive suite. For investors, the question now is whether this is a temporary stumble during a long-term climb, or if the insiders know something the rest of the market is about to find out.