Q2 - might be a dumb question but please keep in mind I'm not a trader* so I don't quite understand most of this, but is there anything bitcoin users or "the community" per se can do to prevent or insulate the market from "pump and dumps"? It makes me think the market will always be at the mercy of traders so this can go on indefinitely keeping things volatile.
Q3 - is there somewhere I can go to learn how to understand all these charts like at bitcointicker.co/bitcoin tracker? I have this one bookmarked and check it daily just to see what the price is but the chart itself I have no clue.
Thanks!
A1: bottom is calculated with costs of the network vs new money coming in. You calculate price of btc times bitcoins found by mining to get the cost. Once these costs are smaller or equal to the new money coming in (substracted the money going out) we will have found a bottom. I think bottom will be double digits based on my calculations.
A2: nothing can be done about Pump and dumps other than you don't buy into it and sell into it instead. (counterintuitive trading, makes money too)
Volatility is only in parts caused by the traders but in large parts also by the miners. So Bitcoin is inherently volatile due to the high inflationrate.