Retail traders are almost evenly split on Bitcoin’s outlook, with sentiment at its lowest level since April when Donald Trump’s global tariff announcement rattled markets.
Crypto research platform Santiment marketing director Brian Quinlivan said on Thursday that with “crypto in a bit of a lull, traders are showing signs of impatience & bearish sentiment.”
He added the firm’s social media analysis found that “there are just 1.03 bullish comments for every 1 bearish comment, which hasn’t happened since peak FUD [fear, uncertainty and doubt] during initial tariff reactions on April 6.”
Quinlivan said the metric is “typically a bullish sign” as markets “historically move in the opposite direction of retail’s expectations.”
Santiment’s Sanbase platform uses a social tool to monitor crypto topics and traders’ sentiment across social channels such as Telegram, Discord, Reddit and X.
Fear & Greed Index drops to “Neutral”
Meanwhile, another sentiment-tracking tool, the Crypto Fear & Greed Index, dropped to a score of 54 out of 100 on Friday, bringing the market attitude from “Greed” to “Neutral.”
The index is calculated based on signals that impact traders’ and investors’ behavior, including Google Trends, surveys, market momentum, market dominance, social media and market volatility, according to its methodology.
The average score for last week, from June 9 to 15, was 61, meaning “Greed.” Last month saw the index at an average score of 70, also indicating “Greed.”
Whale wallets stack Bitcoin
In a separate update on Thursday, Quinlivan said that major and smaller Bitcoin holders are moving in “two different directions.”
In the last 10 days, Santiment found that 231 new wallets have accumulated more than 10 Bitcoin (BTC), while over 37,000 wallets with less than 10 Bitcoin have sold their holdings.
“When large wallets accumulate as retail loses confidence, this is historically the right combination for bullish momentum to inevitably return to crypto markets,” Quinlivan said.
Related: Crypto social media sees rising interest in AI taking jobs: Santiment
Bitcoin is trading around $104,600 and has gained 3% in the last 14 days, CoinGecko data shows.
Ethereum follows a similar trend
Major Ethereum holders have been scooping up Ether (ETH) over the past month as well, while retail investors have been cashing out.
Bitget operating chief Vugar Usi Zade told Cointelegraph earlier in June that retail trading has shifted away from rampant speculation and toward more practical and sustainable use cases.
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