It is a vicious circle of sorts
As soon as Bitcoin prices stabilize in a tight range for some time (which could increase the possibility of ETF approval), someone with deep pockets comes and moves the prices like 20-30% a day (either up or down), and then we are instantly back in the loop
On the other hand, the SEC itself as a board of highly experienced and likely as corrupt people may not be interested in doing anything apart from doing everything to keep things where they are. In other words, the SEC accuses Bitcoin markets for being highly manipulative but they themselves may be abusing it
Not as vicious as the cycle of price we've now seen Bitcoin go through at least 4 or 5 times now. Yes, all the early days prior to Mt Gox should be discarded. Yes, even volumes and numbers of different individual traders should be counted. Yes, these months of stable periods should be looked at. But all this has been witnessed before, at different scales.
So widen the timeframes and we realise these up/down spikes are mere blips in the bigger cycle. I think SEC is a regular blip in that big cycle too.