I think that the big whales had already exited bitcoins when it was at peak. They are manipulating alt coins now.
Altcoins are anyway susceptible to manipulation. They have low market capitalization, low liquidity and anybody willing to put down some money can try a pump and dump. You need some stomach to hold cryptocurrencies for the long term. It doesn't matter how big whales trade in the interim, because a good coin will definitely appreciate in value in the long term.
You know things is getting serious when they do manipulate Bitcoin too because money for them is not enough. Those greedy bastards are trying to get everything as long as they can control it, but once the governments join in i think they will stop their craziness. I think this is how easy for them to manipulate something that too low for them. I wonder how low does Bitcoin look to them that they can still manipulate some of the prices in the market.