The reservation systems get thousands times more queries than actual purchases. For example, if you go to Orbitz and ask for something simple like STL-LAX roundtrip, you'll get 500+ results.

After buying just two tickets and observing a price increase and decrease not in your favor, it just means you're unlucky. It's like sitting down at a slot machine and making two spins and not winning.

The airline is not monitoring your searches, nor would it make any sense to do so, nor can they. Just relax and let the airline computers/aka slot machines do their thing.