BTC only went from ~$630 to $686.  I don't think a $56 (aka 8.8%) increase qualifies as "sky rocketing".  Compared to the BTC price during the original crowdsale, ~$230, BTC really did "sky rocket" to $630 at the same time AMP sky rocketed from ~600 sats to ~30k sats.  If a 2.73x increase in BTC didn't prevent AMP from increasing by a 50 multiple, I don't think a 8.8% increase in BTC is causing this "panic selling".  My opinion on what is happening is that certain naive individuals expected a significant increase in the AMP price immediately after the crowdsale concluded.  When they realized that it might not occur immediately they all started panic selling causing this decline and are pointing their fingers at imaginary "whales" when in reality they should be looking in the mirror and pointing it at themselves.

Protip: Let me give you nervous Nellies some advice... Anyone who was smart enough to become a whale early on in this venture isn't selling for the pocket change prices you see right now.  The whales are the accumulators at these prices and the sellers are the saps.