Not trying to belittle but when statements are made such as "if no news comes this rally will fizzle just like all the others"...
then that can have a deterrent effect on investors and I think calling someone on that is not belittlement as much as it is trying to make the person aware and possibly he can learn something by his or her misguided and erroneous statements. I made the statement then (five weeks ago) and I make it again today that I have seen stock charts look good for a very long time with no news....Yes, the buying is anticipation of good news, obviously, but charts are but a picture of that anticipation. The fact that your friends bought 5 million shares is obviously a contributing factor but the fact that selling/shorting did not occur into that buying to keep the price down paints a positive technical picture.
We have seen this stock rally many times over the past year only to be whacked down by shorting or selling. I am sure you remember the infamous 5 million share sale that put the halt to a rally we had many months ago. This is what is not occuring now (thank God).