The spike and dump was little more drawn out, but still followed the same whale tail pattern. If the price jumps a lot, be ready for another drop like that. A slow climb is 'safer' and more real, imo. These...are pure manipulation.
One way to watch for it (and not get caught on the wrong side) is that moderate sized cap. The 50 btc cap has been sitting there to prevent a huge upswing of the price. These big upswings happen when it disappears. A simple bot that can watch for btc orders over a certain size can tell you went this is about to happen: just watch when it is put in place and when it is removed.