I am a long term supporter of xmr - but the market manipulation on poloniex is sick.
or is it human stupidity that the amount of bids is rising when the price is falling and vice versa? or is it bots going full retard?
economically it does not make sense at all
No, this is very normal. If price goes down, there is more interest to buy. Monero holders seem to assume the coin has some intrinsic value. This is of course very good for the coming monero economy.