prices aren't well balanced, it's possible to soft lock progression if the prices rises higher than your productive capacity
That's true, it is possible to get prices too high that only Crank is profitable. If you end up in this situation, the 600 science upgrade was added to help you to get out of it; with this upgrade, your lasting effect on market prices is divided roughly by 6 every hour, so you are not locked for a very long time.