I think the whole deal here is that people buying $GME wanted to jack the price up exactly to force the shorts into a margin call, and therefore liquidation. A

I think the whole deal here is that people buying $GME wanted to jack the price up exactly to force the shorts into a margin call, and therefore liquidation. Alternatively, I think a lot of people believed a chunk of put options were expiring soon which would cause a lot of contracts to be executed (I.e. forced stock buying).