i think the crypto bear is every bit as manipulated as the last bull run. algorithmic trading inside all these liquidity pools, bot networks.
shorting with leverage enables it too, because whales can load up on the short side and then dump tokens into the market, or have their friends do that, and they always win.
then consider the "cash on the sidelines" wall street has been accumulating for years. if just a tiny fraction of that entered crypto, i doubt they need retail money at all.
media loves to cite numbers, like the huge drop in traffic on robinhood after the meme stonks craze cooled off, but if these market makers started pushing whales through that same system, smaller traders would see the volume, join the party, and up we'd go.
