Can somebody in layman's terms explain how these "hedgies" are able to keep the price down?
two ways.
First is selling shares short.
Meaning they borrow shares (sometimes they don’t even borrow them first, they just pull them out of their ass
) and sell them into the market, this increases the supply of shares meaning the price goes down ala supply and demand.
They also own shares of their own and they chose opportune times to dump them either to stifle upward momentum or to inspire long holders to sell.
They don’t necessarily directly lower the price but through these and other tactics they influence holders to sell and can suppress the price.