Buyers in the weeds...
As an ex institutional trader, I must admit I get a chuckle out of all the conspiracy theory and conjecture.
As an institutional trader, its absolutely common place to STACK up big OFFERS a few cents outside of the bid / ask range, and have an ICEBERG on the bid side. The intent it to make the market look heavy to retail guys who dont know the game.... and get scared into hitting a bid.
Now, for whatever reason there is a natural /psychological nclination to sell around any " figure " , which is the trader lingo for any big round number milestone... like $3.00 is. SO not unusual to have a bunch of retail orders stacked on the sell side. But when you see 250,000 share blocks or more SHOWING on the offered side... its usually cuz there are buyers.
this is fun. feels to me we are going alot higher in short order.