>I don't see how the 4th most valuable crypto network could possibly be able to reach that position only through market manipulation.
These are very small amounts of money in the scheme of things. At current value, ETC is worth about 202 mil. If I'm not mistaken smaller markets are easier to manipulate.
You also have to consider that a few articles can massively alter the view/worth of crypto. There has been a lot of buzz about ETC. I'm not an expert and reading markets is about as consistent as tea reading but ETC seems to have the indication of a bubble.
Additional food for thought: The person behind the hack is heavily incentivized to go on a campaign to increase the worth of the coin, else their hack was worthless.