How can the prices of 100s of cryptos all move in the same direction at the same time?
Don't bother yourself to imagine that as it was impossible. Have in mind that nobody has ever taken control of the market which is why you can't and never say they all go in the same direction at the same time. If that will happens, we are going to say that the market lies on one hand, in fact, traders and whales could somehow affect the market trend and change its direction.
I would agree to have the same direction and that is because of the influence of Bitcoin on the market, however, this will never connect to see them it drops at the same - that kinda be a big coincidence.