Theres so much manipulation in bitcoin and crypto in general that its hard to make educated guesses. Im going with gut feeling right now so I could be wrong.
Yes there is too much manipulation. People who control or own a large exchange and hold large quantities of crypto probably have something to do with it.
Think about it, there are people that purchased Bitcoin in January 2018 when Bitcoin was trading at $17,000+ each. Now they have lost 70% of that value. The volatility is too much. Something needs to change but what and how?
Strangely, the volatility only seems to be too much during a bear market, or when one happens to have bought high.
Nobody cares during the bull run, they just feel like geniuses.
What needs to happen is for people to think for themselves before they act. You must be crazy to start buying at 17k. Parabolic growth never lasts and is always followed by a strong correction.
If you cannot afford to hodl for years, don't buy. If you cannot stand a bear market, don't FOMO in. In fact, just don't FOMO under any circumstances.
People should do some research before getting into a novel asset class. But who wants to do that?
From an investment standpoint you are correct but from a usability standpoint you are decidedly wrong. Relatively stable value is a necessity to go along with scaling and also privacy. Right now there are no cryptocurrencies that even remotely satisfy those 3 basic requirements. The parabolic growth is nearly as dangerous as the crashes in ensuring that crypto is never used as a currency. I have been saying it for almost a year now but a new block reward algo that is based in sound economics is a necessity.