I think you are reading too much jnto it. There are automatic...

I think you are reading too much jnto it. There are automatic trading systems that seek to average the price over the day so say one sude puts in a buy at a price if no one takes it it will match the nearest offer but only trade on small quantities. Has no impact on high volume shares but on illiquid stocks the matching can seem to suppress as it will match and trade smsll quantities. Someone told me Hub uses a system like this bit I cannot verify that. Plus they pay on quaterly brokerage as a owrcentage of value not on each trade. That is true for many funfs as well. This isnt manipulation but the new world where this is all automated.
Can make shareholders upset as it can take down or up a value on a few dollars. Today CVC went up 5c on 197 shares to $2.55