It is not manipulated. The exchange rate to Dollars is a result of demand & supply. That's it.

If someone was manipulating the exchange rate then there would be a market inefficency which would be an arbitrage opportunity and would get arbitraged away.

The reason the "street price" in p2p meetups is higher is because the increased untraceability of the exchanged fiat has a value. Thus it isn't actually the "street price" that is higher - you're just buying a service in addition to the exchanged Bitcoin.

I advice you not to listen to lunatics that think someone^TM is in control. They're just pathetic loosers that can't handle the feeling of having lost money - which is very indicative that they haven't fully understood Bitcoin and still think in a fiat standard in their heads.

I think it can be an important question for some people and I hope you get some thoughtful answers. As for me, I am going to SHaSS. When/If enough people self-custody the ability to manipulate over the long run will be greatly reduced.

Can certain people move the bitcoin to fiat price up and down more than others, sure, but its within a range. Exchanges on their own or together could collude to hit a certain price within the range that could clear out a few traders, especially if there is a big interest in longs or shorts, its hugely profitable for them

But I think there is a limit to what they can do, I think that if bitcoin is manipulated for any extended period of time, you'd see crazy premiums in the P2P market, like for example the kimchi premium, is a signal when btc liquidity is in demand in a certain market

Maybe I'm also biased because people who call manipulation are mostly chartists who are often the biggest cry wolfs because it's an easy catch-all explanation. For example someone can claim market manipulation but in that time, a government tax season could be happening creating selling or miners didn't get refinancing on loans and need to sell and you see big selling, but to find and date these effects from around the world is hard so you just summarise it as whales selling lol its so cringe

Personally, I wouldn't categorise a bitcoin market as manipulated because no ones going to shut it down if it gets too volatile, other assets markets can close, when traders can't stomach it, or the central bank comes in to provide a floor you don't get more manipulated than that

ты готов к росту по экспоненте? это будет забавно... только тогда поймешь что такое рост

It isn't manipulated it is:

The price of bitcoin could be anything holders agreed on, and DCA & transaction buyers would still pay it.

Consequently the price is leaping and falling while voodoo charts attempt to map a random walk.

As long as we price things against USD anything can be manipulated. We saw paper Bitcoin on the FTX fiasco, which lets me thinking that other exchanges will have the audacity and ability to do so as well. As the comment above me pointed out, the only way to get rid of manipulation is to take self custody of your corn.