This really wasn't that big of a move.
I agree. And I didn't mean we were in for a sudden drop back to $125 by manipulation--I was wondering if this might be the start of the pump to $150
The 0.01 btc orders have always seemed fishy, but they seemed to be reduced when Gox updated their software. But now they are back which doesn't bode well for stability...
At least in my view, there's been a lot less manipulation, less pumping and dumping, for a few weeks now. You don't see nearly as many fake walls, far fewer 5-10k coin dumps, a little less FUD, fewer DDoS attacks, I think it just got harder to push the market around. Less panic sellers, more people holding. Anytime it drops now, it's cheap coins. It's much much much harder to push the market down just by dumping coins. It used to be a big coin dump would sucker in panic sellers left right and center. Now it's a value play for cheaper coins.
It's also harder to push the market up. People worried about "bubbles" and "crashes" they take a little profit much sooner. The ask walls we see now are real, people really wanting to sell, and it's a lot slower eating through walls that don't get pulled.
If we do rally to $150, sure it will be a little fishy. But that's fine, sell your coins at $150, then re-buy when it slides down. Every market has maniulation, just go with the flow, make money on the way up and down.