The 8-8.2ks have not been tested and those upward squeezes looked pretty much orchestrated to me. Hundreds of shorts have been closed today. We're clearly long term bullish, but I do believe we could still bounce at 9k and hit the 8ks after Consensus (and then speed it up yo the 10ks again).
Hope for the best but stay alert
Aren't you splitting hairs when you attempt to assert that $8k to $8.2k has not been tested in recent times?
During the weekend, BTC prices dipped down within the $8,208 to $8,286 price range three times, and with decent trade volume on each downward push.
To me, those seem like tests of price support, and sufficiently close enoug to the lower $8ks to be tests of that range.
Now, sure getting to the very bottom of that range might be something that is being attempted, and could be useful in determining that prices are ready to resume the testing of upwards resistance in the $9k to $10k arena...
I doubt that it is reasonable to conclude that we are manipulated, even though there could be bearwhales who have some coins stacked up that are waiting for some stronger "down" in order to dump their coins, and pray for success.