Personal opinion here, but the price of STEEM is most likely being bouyed by the rise in altcoins in general. If you take some of the simpler bots that look at just fundamentals like MACD cross, then STEEM looks like a real strong buy because everything above it is over bought.
It's the end of the fiscal year in the USA. Many people are getting their tax returns and looking for a place to invest. Some of these people are new to crypto and they might be buying bots to manage small crypto portfolios.
It would explain the rise of the alts in general, and I think when a coin begins to look overbought, then they just sell and go to the next coin down the list :D
Could it not be something a lot simpler? For example; Up until the recent hardfork, there has been a higher inflation rate due to higher rewards. Now, while the pool is refilling, the rewards are considerably lower, meaning there is less pressure on the price of STEEM increasing because there is less STEEM being created and added to the marker.
You are right as the amount of Steem I have received is not too good since the hard fork
Patience... it will recover... I the first 4 months at the start nobody got anything, but it payed off
Perhaps, an interesting possibility, but author rewards are minuscule compared to whats already in the market.
I'm sure that it's many reasons, and these ones you mention as well. At least its not the full pump and dump of other alts so far. STEEM is behaving a little differently. Where does the strong accumulation that generally preceding each rise feature in your calculations because to me it looks like a good percentage of it is being held onto.