I think the moral of the story is that if you want some shares, you need to buy at the ask, don't sell at the bid, and don't set a stop-loss.
Personally, I don't believe in MM manipulation. I think it's all about buyers bid-sitting because they know they can and desperate fools liquidating at whatever cost. I've been involved in massive runs leading to parabolic spikes several times only because I was patient and stuck with my conviction about the security.