Crypto Fear Spikes To Extreme After Bitcoin Dip, Data Shows

In Brief

• Crypto sentiment has plunged into extreme fear.
• Bearish chatter dominates despite a Bitcoin bounce.
• Such fear spikes often precede short-term reversals.

Bitcoin (BTC)’s price may have bounced, but the crowd remains unconvinced. After BTC briefly dipped to $60,000 and rebounded toward $65,500, social sentiment has flipped sharply bearish.

Indeed, new data shared by blockchain and crypto monitoring platform Santiment in an X post on February 6 shows that, historically, that disconnect between price and mood has often mattered more than the bounce itself and opens a question of whether this fear is justified or the fuel for a reversal.

As it happens, Santiment’s analysis sees mentions of Bitcoin moving “lower” or “below” a certain price surging across social media, reaching one of the most pronounced bearish spikes of 2026.

https://twitter.com/santimentfeed/status/2019646939180994667

At the same time, calls for “higher” or “above” prices have dropped off noticeably. Santiment tracks this imbalance as a real-time gauge of crowd psychology rather than price prediction. The firm summarized the setup clearly:

“High calls of ‘lower’ or ‘below’ indicate fear and bearishness. Prices typically rebound when this spikes.”

By contrast, periods dominated by bullish chatter tend to coincide with local tops rather than sustainable rallies.

At press time, BTC was trading at $64,997.79, dipping 8.8% on the day, losing 21.5% across the week, and accumulating a decline of 30% over the past month, per the most recent price charts.

*Bitcoin price 7-day chart. Source:* *CoinGecko*

Why Extreme Fear Can Change The Setup

Crypto markets have a long history of moving against consensus. When the crowd overwhelmingly expects more downside, selling pressure often becomes exhausted, even if price action remains weak.

That’s why Santiment cautions against taking the current bounce at face value. The key question isn’t whether Bitcoin rallied from $60K, but whether enough retail conviction has already been shaken out. As the firm notes, the opposite signal matters just as much:

“High calls of ‘higher’ or ‘above’ indicate greed. Prices typically drop when this spikes.”

Right now, that greed signal is largely absent. Instead, fear dominates the conversation, a condition that has historically preceded short-term rebounds, even within broader downtrends.

The takeaway for traders is psychological rather than predictive: sentiment extremes often mark inflection points, not continuation.