Did anybody notice the sudden jump in aggregate number of shares...

Did anybody notice the sudden jump in aggregate number of shares bid. In the course of morning trading the volume jumped by 1 million shares from around 1,200,000 shares to 2,200,000. The new buyer asked for 200,000 at each level of $1.65, $1.64, $1.63, $1.62 and at $1.61
There was no trading at these levels but it certainly put a bottom to the selling today. After closing these bid were withdrawn, it will be interesting to see if this strategy is repeated next week.
I do not know if these bids were placed by one broker or not , nor which broker(s) placed those bids. Just curious what purpose, if any, is behind the strategy.