[serious] What do you mean when you say that "whales manipulate the markets"?

Hello everyone,

I've been asking myself for a long time and - I still don't know what people are talking about. Whales are entities with lots of bitcoin, but what do you think they do with it? I just can't think of any reason why it would be great to buy and sell bitcoin to fool anyone, since you don't know what the market will do, even if you have a lot of buying (or selling) power.

So what are they doing?

• Selling to dump the price - why? Some say to buy cheaper bitcoin, but that doesn't make sense. They already had Bitcoin and sold it at lower prices because of their influence on the markets. There's a good chance that you're selling lower and suddenly the price goes up - meaning you're the loser and will buy for higher prices.
• Buying to drive up prices - well, that's nice. But that's what everybody does, and it's not even manipulation, it's just how the market works.

You can't tell how the markets are going to react. And statistically it's always better to buy now and sell as late as possible.

Thank you

/Edit: thanks for all your opinions/knowledge. I can't answer because it's so many comments. In conclusion, it seems like there is no consensus in this topic. The most realistic option imho is the liquidation scheme because people with privileges can see all the orders and do the math