You are aware that the cryptocurrency space is almost complete unregulated?
Therefore, there is nothing stopping an exchange from front-running trades, controlling volume in their favor, outright hacking prices, and arbitraging other exchanges. With transaction volume at all-time highs, there is even more opportunity to "time the markets" and profit handsomely. Have you noticed the volatility on these exchanges? Prices will stay static for 2 weeks and then suddenly leap 100% - that's basically a huge red flag that a market is being manipulated
Have you ever traded yourself?
I mean at a currency or commodity exchange that would count as a regulated one? Obviously, you haven't since otherwise you would have known that this pattern of price behavior is omnipresent. It is the same with major currencies, commodities like oil as well as precious metals. The price may stay frozen literally for weeks and then crash or spike many percentages within a day or two (oil has been particularly notorious in this regard recently). I guess there should be a theory explaining this phenomenon (likely tied to market inertia), but it certainly has nothing with price manipulation as you mean it (i.e. something illegal which is possible only at cryproexchanges). Just in case, regulated exchanges are using the same tricks that unregulated ones employ, and they even get caught (sometimes). I'd rather say it is you who is really naive here
I took you off my ignore list just in time to see this response. First off, trading at an exchange is not required to examine the suspicious coin price charts. But of course I have traded BTC and other cryptos. Do you really think that the massive price shifts for every crypto are "market driven", or normal? What other financial asset class has such rapid price growth and collapse? I guess it's time for you to start googling. And don't give me "penny stocks".
An unregulated market means simple techniques like front-running are legal - not illegal in any way, shape, or form. To break that down for you: on every transaction the exchange can cause the buyer AND seller to pay 0.01% more, without arousing the slightest suspicion or breaking any law. When we get into how the trades are settled, there is plenty more room for scamming. Every exchange can and likely does do fractional reserve. Do you think that if you buy coin X on Poloniex that anything happens besides an extra row in a transaction database? That means they only need to have the coins when people withdraw them (not common unless there is a price dump). A classic recipe for bank runs.
You are aware that Mt Gox was running a trading bot that bought 12kBTC every single day? At a price that kept constant growth of the BTC exchange rate. The level of fraud was high at Gox, but Karpeles was pretty stupid and unable to do the sophisticated scamming that Wall St. does.
Do you even know the name of the person running your favorite bitcoin exchange? Is their mailing address anything other than a mail drop in Deleware?