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
And what's vicious in these cycles?
As they are not particularly different from commodities. For example, crude oil went from 140 dollars per barrel down to 25 dollars over a few years, but the SEC doesn't seem to be bothered with ETF's tracking the price of crude oil. In other words, we may need more stable growth (and decline, for that matter) if we want to please the commissioners provided they want to be pleased in the first place. But I think they are more than happy with how things are presently (i.e. neither here nor there)