Thanks BB. As far as this last spike, I feel it's fairly simple. Many people ran from Tether over fears of collapse. That means they converted into BTC, which (along with a major short squeeze) caused the spike. That brought in other buyers, which kept the price elevated...even though it almost immediately corrected significantly.  
I'd avoid Bitfinex (and analyzing Tether pairing) for the moment until this settles down. I do think we may see another squeeze if longs stay stagnant and shorts continue to rise.  Should be interesting.