Imo, the reason FB started trading on a Friday is that no one could keep this from going down 2 or 3 days in a row.
10 -15 years ago when tech companies were shopping for IPO representation... Wall Street firms would argue they should be in the lead because they had the cash and the infrastructure to stabilize. That was one of their selling points. So the negotiations were frequently about how much support they would provide. Not sure if it still works that way.
The term is Greenshoe. Common practice for IPOs. Greenshoe The details on how the underwriters did, executing the greenshoe. Facebook IPO Goes Nowhere In Exciting Fashion
Ok. I'm going to get some Elite Traders together and we'll run a thinly-traded stock higher. Then we'll collaborate to "stabilize" the stock at a high level. Any problems with this plan?
The concept of a syndicate bid was written right into the securities acts of the 30's. Yes ... it is manipulative but like many things in life a bit of leeway is part of how a system stays functional.