Bitcoin's surging comeback rally stalls as retail FOMO fails to appear
The crypto hype cycle is not yet playing out like it has in the past. Experts are split on the significance of it.
Crypto markets were meant to be in full swing, after Bitcoin pierced fresh record highs in March on the promise that its four-yearly halving and newly-approved exchange-traded funds would see the space awash with both institutional cash and renewed retail enthusiasm. Yet that momentum has stalled.
While previous crypto bull cycles have been predicated by the price soaring well above its previous peaks, the Bitcoin price is instead hovering near its 2021 apex, so far stubbornly refusing to kick on. Most conspicuous is the apparent lack of new retail entrants that have been the hallmark of previous crypto blow-off tops.
“So far this has been quite a different kind of cycle,” said Egor Sidelska of fund manager Magnet Capital. “Usually buying behaviour is driven by retail first, and then you get the big funds coming in.”
“We haven’t seen any FOMO from retail."
Cryptocurrency investors take it as a given that the market goes through recurring boom-and-bust cycles. The narrative goes roughly like so: Every four years there’s a Bitcoin halving, wherein the amount of new Bitcoin generated each day gets sliced by 50%. Bitcoin explodes a few months after that, lifting the entire crypto ecosystem to new heights. The market enjoys a year or two of frenzy, then everything tumbles down to a new normal that’s higher than the previous one.
