RE:That last second scramble That last scramble was about setting up the 85-cent 500k cross price. I've seen it many times. A broker will move in and suddenly sell a stock down or buy it up only to set up a cross of a large block at a price agreed upon by the parties to the cross. One of the parties to the cross is willing to dump stock of eat stock to get the deal done - perhaps because they know they can buy it back or sell it back without a problem. Sometimes the parties to the cross are a single entity who's moving stock from one corporate account to another for tax purposes.
Note that CIBC ran the stock up in the last second of trade, knowing exactly how much stock they would have to eat before doing the cross. Why they bought up to .87 rather than .85 I don't know - could have been inside people not allowed to buy at or under the cross price. All just IMO.
Maybe somebody here has a more elegant explanation but I know for sure there's always a connection between these rush charges on a stock's price and any major cross that follows immediately thereafter.
It was a very nice finish though. When you see blocks this size going through near the multi-year high it's usually (but not always) a good sign.