I don't think it's just the whales that control the price, maybe there is an effect when they sell some of their coins and the impact drops in price then that's when the market panics and there is a sale
When there is news that Elon Musk sells Doge and Bitcoin but there is no significant price decline, this makes us optimistic that cryptocurrencies are not dependent on the whale, maybe they have large amounts but will not be able to control prices.
Elon Musk is not a cryptocurrency whale, but more a influencer, that has lost a lot of trust. That is why his deal with crypto does not effect market much now.
But I dont think that whales control the price either. At first I thought that those who had mined thousands of Bitcoins, when mining was easy and started mining very first are the ones who control the ball. As they sell just a tiny part of their balance to make a significant price drop. But now I think that Bitcoin is going up and down by itself. Because how else you can describe the situation when demand is huge, price can be both high or low.