I think that the market cap is important to keep tabs on what is really happening. If money is actually moving out of crypto then we are looking at a prolonged bear market like you describe.

I believe we are on our way to recovery and if we can break past the $160B-170B market cap zone then the next stop is $200B. We dipped down to $134.75B MC at our recent low... Already back up to $156.68B.

I think there are some big whales messing with people too :P