So WAVES is not dwindling as fast as I thought it would... Not sure whether that's good (bigger stake) or bad (less interest).

From what I've seen, the best pattern all told is huge interest at the beginning, followed by a long dwindle, followed by a last-minute FOMO pile in. The last shows interest that'll likely carry over into pre-list trading once the ICO is over. I admit that this shema is pretty vague, but it does give with successful ICOs like Lisk.
That is how it usually shapes with ICOs, both successful and unsuccessful ones. Huge interest in first days, almost nothing then, and huge interest again in the last minutes.