It seems like daily trading volumes in the order of $100,000 can move HBD on and off the peg (across all exchanges). How would thousands of HBD have any hope of achieving this?
I am not asking because I know one way or the other. I just don't understand the mechanism.
To start with I don't trust reported volumes at all, and it's really unclear, even if volumes are legitimate, how $X in volume translates into $Y amount needed to move the price (and at what rate). They're really two different things.
In any case, it is possible that it won't be enough, but even if if not, it is still of benefit to be buying HIVE for the DAO at a discount.
Discussed a bit more by @onthewayout here
Interestingly, the longer it goes on, the higher the total profit to the DAO. With more funds in the DAO, the budget can be increased further, essentially without limit. We can actually use profits generated by those overpaying for HBD to eventually reach the necessary budget to restore the peg, whatever that is. But there is no certainty on how long that might take.
Still, the longer it takes, the more HIVE we get to buy and sequester. That is really only a good thing for HIVE stakeholders. Let's hope there are a lot of people who want to spend a lot of money overpaying for HBD for a long time!