It's hard to say whales don't manipulate the market, with the large amount of capital they can dictate market prices. But sometimes this is difficult to prove. But if retail investors unite I think whales can be fought, an example that has happened is in GME stocks. Prices continue to soar as small investors band together to fight price manipulation and cause billions of dollars in losses to big companies
The manipulation of price can easily be done with low market cap coins, or those with coins that have very low liquidity. This is why, you can easily see them pump 100x or more and that you should avoid at all cost. As you may end up holding worthless coins. But for high market cap coins like btc, it is hard to manipulate even by whales. It is hard for them to talk with each other and make a move in the market.