The FOMO Is Back: Why Bitcoin’s Latest Rally Has Analysts Flashing Warning Signs

The social sentiment surrounding Bitcoin ($BTC) has swung to its most bullish level in four months as the asset surged past the $80,000 mark earlier in the week.

This is according to data shared by Santiment on May 7, with the shift reflecting a market that has quickly moved from fear to optimism after weeks where $BTC’s price was weighed down by macro uncertainty and crypto-related security concerns.

Traders Turn Optimistic as Bitcoin Rebounds

Now, retail traders are once again piling into bullish calls across social media, with Santiment’s data capturing this through its Positive/Negative Sentiment metric, which runs posts and threads from major platforms through a machine-learning model to separate bullish from bearish commentary and calculate the ratio between them.

At 1.37, the current reading is at its highest since early January, when the market was coming off a strong end to 2025. Back in mid-April, sentiment had done the opposite, collapsing deep into bearish territory in the wake of the KelpDAO exploit.

Santiment noted at the time that the widespread panic was actually a healthier environment for a rebound, as it cleared out less committed holders.

That rebound came, and with optimism now back near multi-month highs, the firm is highlighting the other side of that dynamic.

“As fear disappears and FOMO rapidly takes over social media discussions, traders often enter positions late into rallies,” Santiment wrote, “increasing the probability of local tops, profit-taking, and sudden volatility.”

The firm was direct that this does not mean the rally is finished, but that the risk profile is meaningfully higher now than it was a few weeks ago, when most of the crowd was still panicking.

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What the Data Needs to Confirm a Bottom

On the price side, Bitcoin was trading at around $81,000 at the time of writing, up by about 7.5% over the past seven days and 18% in the last month.

It briefly tapped $82,000 on May 6, marking a new three-month peak before pulling back slightly, with the 24-hour range having sat between approximately $80,800 and $82,800 per CoinGecko.

However, not everyone is treating the price recovery as a clean setup. Analysts at Bitfinex described the rally to $80,000 as misleading and argued that the market is not positioned for upside movement.

On the other hand, some traders are closely watching whether $BTC can reclaim higher realized price bands tied to underwater holders from late 2025 and early 2026.

According to market commentator IT Tech, Bitcoin needs to break above roughly $89,000 and hold that level before a durable bottom can be confirmed.

The analyst pointed to several realized price zones between $89,000 and $112,000 where trapped buyers may look to exit positions once prices recover.