bought some bitcoins hoping to profit from another price spike but got bored at prices idling at $19 and things getting weird as time passed so I withdrew my money and bailed out before an inevitable crash.
good luck to those staying in the game

I agree this market manipulation is doomed to fail. You cannot "build up" buyers by putting an artificial ceiling in. No one is going to invest into anything that is locked in with the dollar. People invest in high-risk because it yields high return and yes bitcoins is high risk regardless of any stabilizing attempts and is likely to remain so until the volumes and market cap is up.