But, how do you know? It would obviously be a covert game. And plenty of people are always posting about how mms are 'holding a stock back on a run' - if true they could do that in order to cover a short position.
Last, but not least, it is widely stated that mms comprise a large number of IHUB posters - doing their best to manipulate retail into buying or selling in the way that they want.
IF those claims are true, then mms in the penny world aren't simply trying to run an efficient market, but are manipulating the hell out of it, which would explain the cycles we see over and over that nobody seems to understand where they come from.