Social sentiment data from Santiment suggests that retail traders are increasingly pessimistic on crypto prices heading into the weekend, a signal that could paradoxically point to a potential short-term rebound.
According to the analytics firm, social media discussions containing words like “lower” or “below” have sharply outweighed mentions of “higher” or “above.” Historically, such negative crowd sentiment has acted as a contrarian indicator, preceding short-term price gains in Bitcoin and the broader crypto market.
The chart shared by Santiment shows multiple past instances where spikes in bearish chatter, labeled as “Crowd FUD”. were followed by recoveries, while overly bullish “Crowd FOMO” phases often marked local tops.
Santiment’s analysts explained that retail psychology often drives these reversals: when fear dominates, large players and institutional traders tend to accumulate, leading to a bounce. Conversely, when social optimism peaks, it frequently aligns with market exhaustion.
With traders showing renewed anxiety across major coins like Bitcoin, Ethereum, and Solana, Santiment’s model implies that a price rise is the more probable scenario this weekend.
If the pattern holds, the next 48 hours could bring a short-term relief rally as sentiment rebalances, reaffirming once again that in crypto markets, the crowd is often wrong at the extremes.
