Bid Support

Bid support is a trick meant to shore up a company's stock price. In the maneuver, traders put in a bunch of bids for a stock, making it look like there is a large amount of buying interest. A company's share price is derived from a series of bids and asks, bids being inquiries to buy a stock and asks being orders to sell (See: Bid and Asked)).

The process is meant to build a floor for the company's share price and draw in actual buying interest by making it look like a sizable bid interest exists. Hopefully (from the conspirators' point of view) other traders will jump on the stock in the hope of getting in ahead of an increase in price. Bid support is considered a form of market manipulation.