Freyr - A discussion, page-25

The intent of downrampers isn't to use HC to influence the market. Down-rampers and market manipulators generally work together, left-hand right-hand. Price manipulation + downramping are both intended to try and convince retail holders to sell their shares.

"oh the price is going down/ never goes up" combined with "oh people are saying some really worrying things" means some people will decide to just get out. Institutional buyers look at and are influenced by different factors.

This sort of behaviour isn't going to move huge numbers of shares, and when big institutions decide to take a position it still moves the price. But for some parties that are trying to accumulate it still, over a period of time, adds up to them getting more of the shares cheaper.

Sometimes downramping is a sign of shorters but usually it's a sign that someone is trying to scare off retail holders so they can accumulate shares cheaper. Which is why even though they are a very sad type of human, the presence of downrampers is often (IMO) a good sign.