If the HTFBS people have moved on to greener pastures as you say, this may well be a good thing because their selling may have moved shares from the relatively weak hands of short-term profiteers (I would love to be in this group, by the way) into the stronger hands of longer-term investors.
As you suggested earlier, Steve 'might be' taking it a bit easy on releases to enable some of the larger investors he has been theoretically in contact with, to accumulate at these prices. Yes, this is just wishful thinking, and yes there could be some basis in fact too.