That's what I'm wondering, people keep saying that bitcoin adoption is increasing or people are actively accumulating because the halving is approaching, but bitcoin and the market still don't have any positive movement. This shows that people are just saying what they are thinking with no proof for that or as you say, the market is being pure manipulation.
To quote what you said "accumulating and no positive price movement", means you don't understand what is the accumulation phase of the market if you are expecting rapid movement to start happening. In fact, the accumulation phase is the most boring time of the market when nothing much used to happen and when most people get tired and even begin to lose hope in Bitcoin.
The market is now gathering momentum and don't expect anything $1k-$2k price movement a day until when it's time.