Sentiment on the crypto market shifted from ‘extreme pessimism’ to ‘extreme pessimism’ “ultra FOMO mode” in just three days – and analysts say these kinds of rapid moves are exactly what makes the current Bitcoin moment worth keeping a close eye on.
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Bitcoin whales load as the price goes higher
Data from crypto analytics firm Santiment shows that Bitcoin wallets holding between 10 and 10,000 BTC have added approximately 41,000 coins since April 10 – a return worth approximately $3.17 billion.
Buying has come as Bitcoin rose to $80,000, a price level the asset has not reached since late January. On Wednesday, BTC briefly reached $79,330 before retreating to around $77,350.
🤗 The Bitcoin crowd has moved from extreme pessimism (on Monday) to ultra FOMO mode (on Thursday).
Just like $BTC It looked like it was going to freefall after an $80,000 rejection and FUD trickled in (a clear buy signal), but prices quickly rose above $78.7K today.
Now that $80,000 is… pic.twitter.com/AsDSovpA95
— Santiment (@santimentfeed) April 23, 2026
Santiment flagged the accumulation trend on X and said Bitcoin’s key stakeholders are as well “accumulate quickly.” The company also noted that smaller holders – those with less than 0.1 BTC – picked up around 46 coins, worth around $3.56 million, during the same period.
The gap between these two numbers tells a story: the big players are changing in size, while retail activity remains relatively quiet.
📈 Bitcoin’s key stakeholders are piling up quickly $BTC currently up to $78.3K and crypto’s top cap is up +15% in April.
🧐 According to our on-chain data:
🐳🦈 10-10K BTC wallets have collectively collected an additional 40,967 $BTC in the past 2 weeks (+0.3%)
🐟🦐 Less than… pic.twitter.com/ViffTAQg4Q— Santiment (@santimentfeed) April 23, 2026
The setup analysts are watching
According to Santiment, the most encouraging scenario would be one in which large investors continue to buy, while smaller investors start to cash out.
Reports from the company describe that pattern as one of the strongest indicators that a prolonged price rally could be taking shape.
Analysts have historically seen these types of differences between whale behavior and retail activity as a potential harbinger of continued price increases.
On the institutional side, Andre Dragosch, head of European research at Bitwise, says the demand from major professional investors is “clearly accelerating.”
His comments, posted on X Friday, are in line with a broader trend of institutional money flowing back into Bitcoin after months of uncertainty.
GM from Switzerland!
US spot bitcoin ETFs bought 18,991 $BTC during the past 5 trading days.
*checks numbers*
That is 9 times the new supply in that period.
Institutional demand for #bitcoin is clearly accelerating. pic.twitter.com/VtzVyjQAJu
— André Dragosch, PhD⚡ (@Andre_Dragosch) April 24, 2026
Fear still grips the broader market
Despite the whale activity and burst of optimism among Bitcoin holders, the broader crypto market hasn’t caught up.
The Crypto Fear & Greed Index – a widely followed measure of overall market sentiment – posted a score of 39 on Friday, putting it squarely in “fear territory.”
This reading suggests that most investors are still cautious even as Bitcoin approaches a psychologically significant price point.
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Santiment says a move above $80,000 would be important to attract more traders back to the market. But the company also warned that the outbreak would be more meaningful if it occurred after optimism had cooled somewhat.
Reports show that a wave resulting from peak excitation tends to be less stable than one that forms more gradually.
Bitcoin is up 2% over the past week, based on data from Coingecko.
Featured image from MetaAI, chart from TradingView