I think you're dead nuts on with that analogy. There are clearly many who stand to gain tremendously from loading up in the months ahead of the major hurdles being cleared. They need to do that slowly or they'll push the price up ahead of the final point of opportunity, and clearly they don't want that until that point has arrived.

It's about to arrive. A pivotal hurdle was just cleared, and some major positive developments have just had the road in front of them cleared for passage. They will have some sweet PRs that will cause the pops in pps. The ticker change itself merely signifies that the ship is ready to sail. The opportunity has become "eligible". The PRs are now a guarantee IMHO.