So are you saying there's no free market price discovery of STEEM? I'd have to disagree. There are manipulating factors in the market, as there are in every market to varying degrees, but there's plenty of freedom in the crypto markets (people can buy and sell when they want), and we're seeing true price discovery. The price isn't directly manipulated, isn't set by a central bank, or anything like that. The price is free to move.
Increase in the total number of STEEM (currency inflation) will indeed have an impact, as that is the "supply" side of the equation.
But people buying and selling (transferring) STEEM from one account to another doesn't necessarily drop the price.
For example, we often hear gold permabulls (and I am essentially one myself) getting excited when news surfaces that some country or another has purchased a large amount of gold bullion. These announcements, while exciting, don't usually precede big price jumps. In other words, countries buying gold doesn't really affect the price. Reason? When one country is buying gold, another country is selling it. The news could have been "X country is selling their gold reserves!" and our reaction might be "oh no, the price will fall!" But that's not what happens, for the most part. When somebody sells, somebody buys, and vice versa.
What matters is supply and demand.