- Retail traders stayed on the sidelines despite Bitcoin’s recent rebound, with low funding rates and weak search interest showing fragile sentiment.
- Perpetual futures funding sat near 4%, below the typical neutral range of 8%–12%, indicating limited demand for long positions according to Laevitas.ch.
- Bitcoin rallied 8% over three days, wiping out about $465 million in short futures, then pulled back from $97,900 and stabilized near $95,500.
- Institutional flows — including growing spot ETF assets and public companies buying Bitcoin — now represent a larger market force and may support further gains; ETF market cap tops $120 billion per CoinGlass.
- Macro and geopolitical risks, plus lower global search interest for crypto, have suppressed retail participation; Google Trends shows crypto interest near 27 on a 0–100 scale.
Bitcoin stabilized near $95,500 on Thursday after an eight percent, three-day rally erased roughly $465 million in short futures positions, while retail interest stayed muted. Web search and derivatives metrics showed limited retail engagement, and a pullback from $97,900 appeared to weaken sentiment further.
Perpetual futures funding held at about 4%, below a neutral range of 8%–12%, signaling weak demand for bullish bets, according to data from Laevitas.ch. Traders often use these perpetual contracts because their prices track the spot market more closely than monthly contracts on exchanges like CME.
Global search data show interest in “crypto” at approximately 27 on a 0–100 scale, close to a 12-month low, suggesting lower retail attention; see Google Trends. Meanwhile, silver rose about 28% in two weeks, a short-term move that may have drawn attention away from crypto markets, based on price charts from Tradingview.
Broader market and political developments also weighed on sentiment. The U.S. Justice Department opened a criminal inquiry into cost overruns tied to the Federal Reserve building renovation, raising questions about potential pressure on monetary policy. Traders note that Jerome Powell’s term ends in April and expect possible stimulus changes later in 2026.
Institutional demand remained meaningful: U.S.-listed Bitcoin spot ETFs have passed $120 billion in assets and public companies following Michael Saylor’s playbook have purchased more than $105 billion in Bitcoin, data from CoinGlass show. That institutional buying now plays a larger role in price dynamics as retail participation stays subdued.
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