The general public has made its prediction: Bitcoin's current price of $75,763.45 will surge above $90,000 in the near future, potentially turning this year's negative returns into positive ones. However, it's uncertain whether the market will follow this forecast.
Analytics firm Santiment analyzed thousands of social media posts across various platforms, including X, Reddit, and Telegram, and found that the majority of posts over the past week have been predicting bitcoin's price to rise above $90,000. Mentions of a price range between $50,000 and $59,000 are being dismissed as fear, uncertainty, and doubt. The crowd is clearly expecting the slow recovery from the February low of around $60,000 to continue into May, and this optimism is fueled by the recent inflows into exchange-traded funds and bitcoin's resilience in the face of global conflicts, oil price surges, and DeFi hacks.
According to Santiment, this widespread bullish sentiment is actually a reason to be cautious, as overly optimistic social media predictions can often indicate the opposite outcome. This concept is echoed by traditional market contrarian traders, who use sentiment gauges like the AAII Investor Sentiment Survey and the CNN Fear & Greed Index to inform their decisions. Interestingly, bitcoin's recovery rally has already stalled this week, with prices dropping to $77,000 from highs above $79,000 on Monday, leaving it unclear whether this is a temporary pause or the start of a broader reversal.