Manipulating the crypto market is the easiest thing to do as long as you do it correctly. One Tweet may be enough to trigger a sell-off, an article taken out of context could do that as well.

It's just a matter of correctly timing your actions. It shouldn't be a surprise anymore that all these fud and manipulation attempts happen during an ongoing correction. People at that point are vulnerable. 

That's why you also see fud clear up once the market is rushing up again. An increasing market also increases people's confidence, which means that spreading more fud is a pointless effort.

Manipulation in this market means playing with people mentally. If you know when to strike, you'll be largely controlling this market without much problems.