Matt Hougan, the Chief Investment Officer of Bitwise, has highlighted a significant disparity in sentiment between retail investors and professionals in the cryptocurrency market. Hougan noted that while professional investors remain notably optimistic, retail sentiment has reached its lowest level in years. This observation comes as the Crypto Fear and Greed Index has plummeted to a “Fear” score of 44, a marked drop from last month’s “Greed” score of 69.
The downturn in retail sentiment is largely attributed to substantial declines in the value of various altcoins and memecoins. Key cryptocurrencies such as Pepe, Shiba Inu, and Dogecoin have seen significant price drops, with market data indicating declines of 35.31%, 20.82%, and 24.69% respectively over the past week. Currently, Dogecoin is trading at $0.25.
The differences in sentiment are not uniform across all cryptocurrencies. While retail sentiment towards Solana is somewhat more favorable than that of professionals, the opposite trend is observed for Ether, with retail sentiment reportedly at its worst. Solana has emerged as a popular choice among memecoin traders, while Ether has gained attention from crypto professionals due to its involvement in World Liberty Financial, a DeFi project associated with former President Donald Trump.
Broader market dynamics have been affected by macroeconomic factors, including the imposition and subsequent suspension of tariffs by Trump on countries like Canada and Mexico. These actions have contributed to volatility in the crypto market, which experienced its largest liquidation event in history. Despite these challenges, Bitcoin has been trading below the psychological threshold of $100,000, currently valued at $96,609.
