I really don't think, that the whales left the market.
Crypto will rise again, whales know this very well. So maybe they left for now, but sure they will buy back in and enjoy their new millions of dollars..
Yes, they left the market to panic and push down the price of bitcoin to buy more so that they could own more assets at a lower cost, so we should not panic and sell the bitcoin in our hands, believing. Bitcoin will pick up in March.