Because.......of... stuff?
Ok, no seriously, as a wannabe market maker, you would normally want to lay a tranche like that on either side. You make money on the spread by providing liquidity on both sides.
But in reality, if you put up a graduated wall like that, on only one side, you are just trying to support the price. Either this guy is already deeply long with sufficient fiat reserves to absorb the ongoing supply of coins from new blocks, or he (or they) are desperately clinging to leveraged long positions (Tarmi's wet dream)
When I try to imagine myself in the position to lay down those bids without sufficient asks to profit from volatility, I can only think
they are either certain of the outcome, or they are financially insane.Meanwhile, I still think we're going sideways, and I think that's a good thing.
Edit: on closer inspection, there does look to be a similar pattern, though much smaller on the sell side.
![](https://ip.bitcointalk.org/?u=http%3A%2F%2Fi61.tinypic.com%2F2d6l26r.png&t=665&c=pm_r6473YOeAiA)
Could be a maker betting on an overall upward momentum... wouldn't be that outrageous a bet, but I think the really big players are probably using hidden walls and group moves and other tactics.
In any case, I much prefer a market that is open to manipulation than one where the ones who regulate get to decide who can manipulate freely without repercussions and who gets prosecuted.