what kind of spread are you looking at?  there is so much volatility within crypto to capture.  i don't see how fees would affect you so much so you can't profit comfortably.  please clarify

Its not anti-government but rather against the centralization of power that typically preys on the underprivileged.

While it is difficult to pinpoint exactly why, I doubt it is just because of ICOs and forks.  Most token sales are happening on Ethereum.  Granted ICOs now a days are flexible enough to accept BTC or ETH, it doesn't make sense to see BTC skyrocket and not ETH (if the reason was due to ICOs).  As for forks, the most common speculators/investors don't care about forks nor do they even know how to profit from them.

Highly unlikely China will outright ban crypto mining.  China is ahead of the curve when it comes to understanding how cryptoassets work and the potential blockchain technology has.  Not to mention they are generating ridiculous amounts of money through mining.  I would argue that the ICO ban was absolutely necessary for them to protect their citizens from scams and to buy time to figure out how to best integrate crypto into their economy while still maintaining control over their currency.