So many people owns btc but if there are people who owns large quantities of it then I think it's possible for them to influence the price if they will sell it. They can be called as a whale. Many of us only want's to earn so we buy more btc and then hodl it but there will always be whales which are against with what we are planning. It's kind suck though.
Other than the whales, there is also bear market but I think this one is mostly natural though I think a whale can interfere with it making the bear moves un naturally or making the duration more longer like on what we are experiencing now. They say it was only a 4 year cycle but I don't believe on it.
You have a point, whales without a doubt are powerful enough to move the market, however they have to be opportunistic on their moves, for example if whales tried to create a bullish trend now I think they will fail as there is still a lot of fear in the market and many investors which are trapped and losing money will use an increase in the price to sell their coins, and as such whales will fail in their attempt to pump the price, so even whales need the help from small traders in order for their manipulations to succeed.
Whale groups of course already know what to do when the market is in a bearish moment like now, they already have their own guidelines. Making some manipulations and some FUD will certainly be an option to get even cheaper prices. Whales may not have the full power to influence the market, but they have enough effort and effort to influence the psychology of small traders like us.
The future price of bitcoin can only be predicted and it will also not be accurate. The predictions made only provide a clue and may or may not happen.