STEEM and SBD always seem to spike, then pull back slowly. This was true in the bull market and during the recent pullback.
It'd be nice to see both, or either on a steady (what I'd call "strong") rise, where day after day they were rising - even if only a little.
The spikes feel like pumps, which considering the community & activity on the blockchain (and generally good ratings from outside agencies) doesn't add up for me.
I'm confident in the platform, especially long-term (and I'm not overly concerned about price), but it'd sure be nice to see the market performance showing some sustained strength.
We did have some of this patterns you mention at the end of last year, mostly related - probably - to new players entering the system, combined with some positive news about the advancement of the platform (the announcements of AppBase and SMT, specifically).
I agree that recent rises looks like pumps, which I find especially true about SBD. Given its very small market cap it was -again, probably - taken for a ride by some speculators.