Tug-of-war seems to me a very appropriate characterization. Again yesterday, right at the last minute, someone bought a few thousand shares @ 5% above the previous trade price. Seems very common for that to happen - either higher or lower - like certain people have to manipulate the closing price for some reason. (If that were gold, it would be the same as someone bidding $60 higher than the previous trade.)

Not sure why people would want to hold the price down. I guess if someone was considering buying the company, they might try to keep it low. Or maybe someone is trying to keep it at a realistic value - not let it go too high or too low - until some real news comes out. You are right about the fairly steady range over the last 3-4 months, compared to previous.

Wish I could tell what people were thinking . . . .