noticed the same thing.  i think whales are trying to keep it stable in light of the gox debacle.  they don't want everyone to run for the hills.  got to keep that confidence going.  reminds me when the price stayed at just over $800 for way too long.  i thought the whales were trying to keep it less volatile so it looked more like a currency.  back then people complaining about how volatile bitcoin was.  ahh, the good old days when volatility was the extent of our problems