During the last 3 days about 20k BTC have disappeared from the order book (at least as I write this).
Do you think it's just one major player (possibly a company) buying? Is the withdrawal of funds from Fort Gox via BTC over?
I think it's one major player (probably a company) instigating and maintaining the uptrend to acquire an inventory of bitcoins as cheaply as possible while keeping the price as stable as possible to protect their assets.
This makes no sense. If I was a major player and wanted to acquire bitcoins as cheaply as possible, the last place I'd do it would be on Mt. Gox.
Mt. Gox only has 50% of the volume and the price is 10 -15% higher than on the other exchanges. I'd be buying on the other exchanges that together have just as much volume as Mt. Gox.
The more likely explanation in my view is that some people are worried about their $$ held captive in Mt. Gox and are buying bitcoins to get their money out.