What you are saying about manipulation is correct except it is worse than that. It is a game and the players are the big fish and the Market Makers. If a big fish wants to get in CGC, the MM will take it down 2 or 3 dollars so the immediate profit for them is there.
There is so much retail ownership in Canopy and your correct bigger fish will play there games to get your shares. not to often where a stock is dominated by retail ownership.