Cryptocurrencies are volatile due to the relatively small market size. This means large holders, nicknammed whales, can easily dump their tokens on the market to dramatically impact price. In addition, projects with poor token distribution can be very easily influenced by whales and can sometimes result in pump-and-dump schemes. There is also the Bitcoin effect. When Bitcoin suffers losses, the rest of the crypto market tends to follow, causing market-wide crashes that can make prices swing widely.