Why do I feel like things just arent right? So much growth then things just hit a wall. Are there large forces at play (whales) slowing things down?
You feel like this because you're new to Bitcoin. Boy, if you were here way back before the first huge blow up, you would've seen true stagnation. We were stuck under 500 bucks per coin for a long long while. Sure, it's possible that whales are behind this, but this is just the nature of Bitcoin. It hits a wall and halts for a little bit, corrects itself, and then goes up again. Your best bet right now is to buy while low so that you can enjoy the path up. Altcoins seem to be doing pretty well too. It's possible that they're halting the BTC growth cycle.