A new analysis from on-chain intelligence firm Santiment shows that social sentiment still plays a major role in timing market tops and bottoms – especially for Bitcoin and Ethereum. The report tracks how retail investors talk about price levels on social media and uses those discussions to identify moments of extreme fear or greed.
Santiment’s data visualizes two sets of bars: blue representing mentions of much lower price targets, and red representing mentions of higher, ambitious levels. The logic is simple – when the crowd becomes fearful and expects deeper drops, it’s usually an optimal time to buy. When everyone turns greedy and predicts unrealistically high prices, it’s often the time to sell.
Bitcoin Chart: Fear Marks the Bottom, Greed the Top
In the first chart, Bitcoin’s social volume spikes reveal a clear pattern. The largest blue bar, showing the highest concentration of mentions for “$50K Bitcoin,” coincided almost perfectly with the market bottom around September 25. Shortly after, BTC began a strong rebound.
— Santiment (@santimentfeed) October 8, 2025
You can measure how much FOMO & FUD is going on very Bitcoin, Ethereum, or any other coin simply by tallying the total mentions of high or low prices on social media. For example, tons of "see you back at $50K, Bitcoin" is a nice sign we're going higher.
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Then, as prices climbed to new highs, the red bars representing talk of “$150K to $200K Bitcoin” surged dramatically around October 6, marking what Santiment described as the “crowd greedy, optimal time to sell” zone. Historically, these peaks in overconfidence have aligned with local tops, as traders rush to chase momentum just before corrections hit.
Read also: Bitcoin Halving Secret Reveals TOP Before November!
Ethereum Chart: FOMO and FUD Spiking Together
The second chart focuses on Ethereum and tells a slightly different story. ETH shows overlapping spikes in both bullish and bearish mentions – a sign of sudden polarity in sentiment. These occurred twice in August, during its rally period.
According to Santiment, the first simultaneous spike of FOMO (fear of missing out) and FUD (fear, uncertainty, and doubt) came as Ethereum surged. The second, even higher spike, appeared just before a local top. The firm noted that when both positive and negative social mentions soar together, it usually reflects confusion and emotional trading – conditions that often precede a reversal.
What It Means for Traders
Santiment summarized that markets tend to move opposite to crowd expectations. Retail traders, who dominate social chatter, often express peak optimism at tops and maximum fear at bottoms. Monitoring price mentions such as “$200K Bitcoin” or “$1K Ethereum” gives a simple but effective contrarian signal.
For now, Bitcoin’s social sentiment has cooled after its October surge, while Ethereum continues to show mixed crowd behavior. If the patterns hold true, traders might want to stay cautious on BTC short-term while watching for potential value entries in ETH once fear outweighs greed again.
This sentiment-based approach isn’t perfect, Santiment admitted, but when aligned with other indicators, it can act as a powerful filter for identifying market extremes – a kind of social “early warning system” for upcoming reversals.