It's just manipulation- as a flood of rubes come in to "buy and hold" the price explodes and then some rubes get into options trades that give them downside exp

It's just manipulation- as a flood of rubes come in to "buy and hold" the price explodes and then some rubes get into options trades that give them downside exposure, some short the stock, some believe the hype and think it's an investment, and some are there to speculate but can either only go long or get the timing wrong. So the buying pressure at some point subsides, and momentum to the short side builds as people exit. Participants in these forums like yahoo finance before it are constantly trying to exhort the group to move into names in which the touts already have positions setup.