It could be that we arrived at step #3, let's see how this plays out:
If I were a market maker and want to accumulate more btc before the inevitable halving and 'consensus' price rise, I would definitely:
0. Accumulate on the almost forgotten alt coin market
1. Spread FUD so people sell their btc, btc price drops
2. Pump altcoins. People sell their btc in the chase, btc price drops further (<--- we are here)
3. Dump expensive altcoins for cheap bitcoins.
4. Let the bitcoin bubble occur because of 'consensus' and halving
5. People sell cheap altcoins for chasing expensive bitcoins
5. Sell expensive bitcoins for cheap altcoins
6. Spread FUD
7. Rinse, repeat.
I'm not sure about stage 2 as we already see altcoins getting dumped.Just look what is happening the last few days.
The only thing which doesn't seem to work is to push BTC price down.But it is also not going up.We are stable around 420 for some good while now.So it seems the altcoin dumpers are moving into fiat.