"Price manipulation" could be when you see the price action resembling stair steps, whether upward or downward. This pattern often indicates that algorithms, not individual traders, are executing trades. Many refer to this phenomenon as "manipulation of price action," showing the influence of trading bots and computers on Bitcoin's market movements.
"They" (Institutional traders and whales) move the price to look for our (retail) liquidation levels, so that "they" can start a liquidation cascade: A liquidation cascade hits when crypto trading platforms like Binance and others automatically close your positions, which are in a loss, to cover their losses— this is what we call a liquidation event or a forced sell-off.
Big players "they" use algos and trading bots to push prices to those liquidation levels, triggering mass liquidations and a chain reaction.
Prices dive deeper, and while everyone else gets wiped out (or liquidated), "they" rake in the cash 💰💰💰💰💰💰💰💰