Bitcoin is not controlled by anyone, nor can whales control the market price. But whales play a big role in price manipulation. They try to create a panic message spread through a large number of trades to trigger certain actions in the market.
Both Whales and the weak hands keep the market liquid, added to it the influencers who shill coins help in pump and dump. A lot of factors are in play here and our goal is to get the best possible price for a coin and move with that. It is incorrect to say that a specific money hoarding group is making the market move or calling the shots, rather an interplay.
Panic is created by the people who have bought at high prices and now finding that they are in loss and thus they panic sell. It is a wrong move to buy at the top, but you can still recover it or break even if you are patient enough.
However the weak hands catch this and they easily panic causing the whales to accumulate more - to counter this, one needs to think like the whale, go opposite of what the weak hands are doing.