$250 move-up in 3 minutes.

I often notice the following pattern in the Bitcoin price: it's quite stable for hours to days, moving sideways, then suddenly it drops or shoots up in a more or less straight line. After that, it continues moving sideways.
How can that be?
I can only think its being manipulated by some whale(s) keepingt he price stable until they need change. If there's a different explanation, I'd like to hear it.
Exactly my thinking. They obviously work with other whales to control the price.
This clearly only works during periods of low volatility & no periods of FOMO.