We're neither going up or down, we're just moving between the levels you spoke about. As more people begin to realize and act on those levels the band will become smaller and eventually it will burst one way or another, forcing us either towards 3k or 5k.
We are moving sideways right now and it can pump and dump at no specific time as the market is still in a down trend. Its too early to be sad because 2019 will be a great one for sure, I expect more pumps compare to dump this year and since bitcoin and eth are cheap again, you can now buy more.
change is not very fast and tends to undergo changes that are not too drastic. we are still in an uncertain phase, the price of bitcoin will never be able to survive the exact price. changes occur, decreases and increases will always be there every minute. when more people need bitcoin then the price will increase and when more people sell bitcoin then it will reduce the price of bitcoin. Such a scheme will always occur because the price of bitcoin is very much determined by the demand factor.
I think people get too caught up in the idea of bitcoin only having a limited supply based on how many coins are mined each day. That's not entirely true. What should be considered is market demand and market supply. that is how many people are willing to sell at any given price. Supply can fluctuate greatly just as demand can when considering it in this way.