The real manipulators are:
big whales,
politicians,
media.
Big whales pouring much money, politicians making announcements on banning cryptocurrencies, media spreading all that and making the noise. This is how it is!

Nice said. You forgot to mention the banks. Who believes the fairy tale that the banks are real opponents of the Cryptoszene, is wrong. They are big players in this game.
If you look at the stats of many ICOs, which is very easy given the blockchain register, you will find out that many of them just rely on the small investors. It is not necessary to go after the whales, nor particularly productive.
Big whales always use these advantages and special resources to hinder us as small investors. We have to admit that there are such unfair treatment, but in the coin market, this unfair is very dazzling.