I have no clue how anything gets in the Hot tab feed, but I do know that all of the top trending post are bought and paid for.
It can not be number of votes,
or post potential payout,
or comments,
because they are all varying levels in the Hot tab,
so it must be some secret formula for the Hot tab.
but any ways to late to look now you were supplanted by @acidyo
It's the value of the post. Posts on hot move faster than trending. If acidyo bumped it down it's most likely organic and that's life. If ten folks all go buy votes, the status I earned is gone in no time, even on the hot page.