Whales are not back because they never left. They continued to accumulate as many coins as possible during the last 12 months.
I saw too the number of transactions doubled since few days, I guess this is the result of the positive feeling in the BTC market.
Yup! they sure never ever when extinct in the first place, Because they are always here among us and would plan a next time they will buy or sell again, I am sure they will make a well-executed plan to make the price up or down, And you will see from the way the price change occurs that they are in the move again I really think this kind of movement is pretty normal for the market right now.