Price was living high on the hog, begging for a spanking.
We go back to "merely" exponential growth now, with who-knows-what happening for the next few days/weeks.
We're not going back to exponential growth. We're completely changing directions now.
Based on what? Most of the people trying to buy their first Bitcoin are still waiting in line at mtGox and now that the prices are cheaper they'll buy a lot more. People who jumped ship were professional traders not the mainstream public looking for long term investments or looking to buy Bitcoin to hold for a year.