If you post for the sake of rewards, just ignore my comment.

It is my own opinion it does not matter what other experts think of. Moreover, I have significant investment in Steem (not in this account). With a blog almost daily, I keep exploring the fundamentals and reasoning behind my own investments.

It is not all about manipulation, successful projects can work. Please look closely at the @steem.leo which has increased its valuation couple of times even in bear market. However, it is a very small project with valuation under $150K. With my large personal stake in LEO, I can be a manipulator too ;)

Most cases, it is true.

However, it is the relative position that matters. When Steem ranked above 30, community has better optimism. Even in the bear market the competition matters. Look at the successful projects such as ChainLink or Maker how they are flourishing even in the bear market. The problem is that Steem is struggling more than peers which require some re-thinking.

By the way, "Bulls make money, bears make money, pigs get slaughtered" is an old Wall Street saying ;)