Crypto traders are suddenly cheering for Ethereum, even as Wall Street investors continue pulling millions from its ETFs.
Meanwhile, Bitcoin and XRP are facing growing pessimism, which analysts say could actually help their recovery.
According to Santiment, Ethereum now receives 2.05 bullish social media comments for every bearish one. Yet US Ethereum ETFs have suffered 10 consecutive trading days of withdrawals.
Why Are Bitcoin and XRP Traders So Fearful?
Santiment tracks positive and negative comments across X, Reddit, and Telegram. A score above 1 means bullish comments outnumber bearish ones.
Bitcoin’s score has fallen to 0.82 after repeated failures to break $87,000 and a decline toward $81,000. Meanwhile, leveraged bullish traders lost $688.56 million in a single day.
XRP looks equally unpopular. Its sentiment score sits at 0.92 after a weekly decline exceeding 9%. The token has also struggled to break above $1.40.
The reversal happened quickly. Earlier this month, Ethereum and XRP were deeply unpopular, while Bitcoin enjoyed stronger optimism.
“Ethereum is suddenly the crowd favorite…Bitcoin is seeing the opposite setup…XRP is also deep in FUD,” Santiment analysts noted.
Ethereum’s $780 Million Warning Sign
While Ethereum dominates bullish conversations, ETF investors are withdrawing money.
According to SoSoValue, Ethereum ETFs lost another $85.4 million on October 12, bringing withdrawals since September 29 above $780 million.
Bitcoin ETFs also lost $65.4 million that day. XRP ETFs recorded zero net flows, with total assets at $1.55 billion.
Santiment believes this difference in sentiment could matter for the next market recovery.
“From a contrarian perspective, BTC and XRP’s fear is healthier than ETH’s crowd excitement if prices begin recovering,” the analysts wrote.
The argument is simple. When traders become overwhelmingly bullish, much of the buying enthusiasm may already be reflected in prices. Widespread fear can leave more room for sentiment to improve.
For now, Ethereum’s popularity faces a serious test: whether actual investment demand can catch up with the excitement.
