Worldwide internet searches for Bitcoin have fallen to bear market lows, remarkably, this is despite asset prices topping $71,000 this week.
Search interest in Bitcoin rose in March when the asset hit an all-time high but has since fallen back to 2023 levels, according to Google Trends.
Bitcoin price has come completely untethered from search traffic, observed tech entrepreneur Mike Alfred in a post on X on June 6. This led to the conclusion that retail has yet to come to the party and that market momentum has been driven by institutional investors.
“But the simple fact is that this has been an institutionally driven bull market and we may still be very early in the process.”
BTC price has come completely untethered from search traffic. We are at $71,200 and nobody is searching for Bitcoin. Yes, some people are using chatGPT. But the simple fact is that this has been an institutionally driven bull market and we may still be very early in the process. pic.twitter.com/ESlZKwaFrE
— Mike Alfred (@mikealfred) June 5, 2024
Social Sentiment Wanes
The findings were echoed by crypto analyst Miles Deutscher who compared crypto YouTube views with previous cycles on June 6. When Bitcoin closed in on $70,000 in the 2021 market cycle, related YouTube content and content providers were getting around 4 million views per day, according to the figures. However, when BTC topped $70,000 in 2024, YouTube views were only around 800,000.
“Retail isn’t back yet,” said the analyst, who added, “This cycle has been much more difficult to navigate than prior bull runs for the majority of market participants.” Additionally, altcoins have underperformed, which has impacted market sentiment.
“Altcoins have largely underperformed Bitcoin, creating a discrepancy in sentiment vs price.”
There is no indicator in the world that sums up the current state of the market better than crypto YT views.$BTC at $70k in 2021: 4m views/day$BTC at $70k in 2024: 800k views/day
Retail isn’t back yet (below I’ll go through a couple of reasons why.👇
(h/t @intocryptoverse) pic.twitter.com/SznnugHR1d
— Miles Deutscher (@milesdeutscher) June 6, 2024
Social sentiment is largely controlled by retail, which turns to crypto and social media for news, updates, trading tips, etc. Institutional traders rely on fund managers to do the work for them.
Despite the lack of retail engagement the Bitcoin ‘Fear and Greed’ Index remains planted in the green with an ‘extreme greed’ reading of 78.
Crypto Market Outlook
Total market capitalization has remained flat over the past 24 hours at $2.77 trillion. It was boosted on June 4 solely by Bitcoin which hit an intraday high of $71,740.
The asset retreated slightly during the Thursday morning Asian trading session to trade at just over $71,000 at the time of writing.
Ethereum has gained 1% on the day to reach $3,850 and the altcoins remain a mixed bag with more red than green for most of them.
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