"why wouldnt buyers take advantage of todays prices?

manipulated or not, this is a great price to get more shares - yet buyers are not around."

Fear. "If no one else is buying something must be wrong". "What if it goes down more, then I could get it cheaper?" "If this is such a great buy then why is no one buying it?".... and so on and so forth. It is the stall on momentum that manipulation so easily creates. Even on a stock that is moving you can see the tug of war of those waiting to get the lowest price against those fighting to get the highest price. Without news the bids usually win over time.