Those few people were the guys who had been able to own huge number of coins when the market price was the lowest.
You may think that is true, but the truth actually is that nobody bought coins at lows. They all bought when it started going up. This is fact, place yourself in that position and you would also do the same. The difference is those who bought even early became early investors who would be ready to dump after the first pump.
That was a kind of test market when no one or very low amount of people had belief in Bitcoin and knew that it is something that will pay off in future. Even right now, you can have some good amount of coins when the market is bearish again.
Its still a test market if you think relatively in terms of how much whales can put in to move the market. They are the reason why market move and they have to keep on doing that unless the market becomes boring for them.