Firstly there's a lot of emotions having its way in the crypto market which is why the FOMO and fud word are a big thing here. The whales irrespective of where they're trading can have an effect on how the market react simply by making use of the media to push their selfish intentions. They can either crash the market by creating a bearish scenarios or pump it by making it look like they are buying coins and holding.

Whales do trade on exchanges that regular traders can be found too. A perfect example is the Binance exchange, we have numerous whales on the platform. There are numerous things that contribute to the movement of bitcoin, the obvious first pick has as to be because of the scarcity of the coins. We'll be having just 21millions and as a result of holding, most of those 21 millions coin won't be available for trading.

The manipulation by whales aren't a major reason but it also contribute heavily since it's obvious money controls the market and who has it has the power to direct the movement of the market to its will.