Bitcoin’s (BTC) slow bleed lower over the past weeks has sped up Friday, the price dipping more than 3% in the past 24 hours to slide to about a five-week low of $63,700, now lower by 9% over the past month.
Contrarian bulls, however, might take comfort as indicators tracked by analysis firm Santiment show that crowd sentiment for BTC is now in its fourth week of “extreme negative” reading.
“The crowd is mainly fearful or disinterested toward Bitcoin,” the firm said in an X post Friday. “This extended level of FUD is rare, as traders continue to capitulate,” they added. “BTC trader fatigue, combined with whale accumulation, generally leads to bounces that reward the patient.”
Santiment’s Weighted Sentiment Index measures bitcoin mentions on X and compares the ratio of positive to negative comments and trading volumes to gauge what the crowd is generally feeling about bitcoin. The index, which shows a -0.73 reading as of Friday, has been negative since May 23.
Elsewhere, data from Google Trends shows a decline in retail search interest. The tool allows users to compare the relative volume of searches. A line trending downward means that a search term’s popularity relative to other popular terms is decreasing. Worldwide searches for “bitcoin” have steadily fallen since March 2024, data shows.
BTC prices have generally suffered in the past few weeks amid $1 billion in sales from large holders, dollar strength and a strong U.S. technology index market that may be drawing investor money.
Outflow activity from U.S.-listed spot bitcoin exchange-traded funds (ETFs) has also reached its worst since late April, with $900 million leaving the products so far this week. These figures are nearing the $1.2 billion in total net outflows in trading sessions from April 24 to May 2.
Some traders expect bitcoin to reach the $60,000 level in the near-term due to the lack of growth catalysts, although the long-term outlook remains bullish, as previously reported.
