The price action of bitcoin is basically dependent on supply and demand. When BTC hit 19000 highs, many early investors became millionaires. Many people got 5 - 20x or more return on investment. Many cashed out. Not many people bought at this level. On top of that you have bitcoin futures trading, with many short positions open by traders on CME. Yes partly it was a game played by the big whales.
Many people sold their Bitcoins in panic at lower rates then they bought and now we can see that the price has rebounded, right after big whales bought at the price they wanted below 10000, at much lower rates than bitcoin is worth. Now that bitcoin futures are on CME exchange we can see the commitment of traders report weekly and follow where the big money goes.