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On December 4, bitcoin suffered its worst trading day since mid-May, as its price plunged to a two-month low of $42,000. Somewhat expectedly, this massive $16,000 crash in less than 24 hours led to a change in investors’ sentiment as the popular Bitcoin Fear & Greed Index went into “extreme fear” territory once again.
Extreme Fear Shakes The Crypto Community
The Bitcoin Fear & Greed Index works as an indicator of momentary investor sentiments towards the primary cryptocurrency. It tracks several segments such as the volatility of the asset, volume, social media comments, surveys, and others to provide a result between 0 (Extreme Fear) and 100 (Extreme Greed).
Following the recent bloodbath in the cryptocurrency industry, and more specifically, bitcoin’s price dump to around $42,000, the metric now points at 16 – “Extreme Fear.” It is worth noting that the last time the index showed a number lower than 16 was July 21. Back then, BTC’s USD value dived under $30,000.
After rallying to an all-time high price of almost $70,000 in the middle of November, the leading digital asset kept hovering above $60,000 for the next couple of weeks. However, the picture drastically changed at the end of the month when it dropped under $55,000. One of the reasons behind the decline might have been the new COVID-19 variant – Omicron – which was detected in South Africa and harmed all financial markets.
In the following days, BTC bulls tried to push the price towards $60,000 but without much success. Somewhat expectedly, Bitcoin Fear & Greed Index went to “Fear” and “Extreme Fear,” indicating the concerns among cryptocurrency investors.
At the beginning of December, when the asset was preparing for another attempt to push towards that particular line, the bears came to play big time and led to the aforementioned tumble of $42,000.
According to the analytics company CryptoQuant, on-chain developments ahead of the crash could have foreseen what happened. The number of bitcoins sitting on exchanges, which spiked sharply hours before the drop, was one of the signals.
Whales to Sell More?
CryptoQuant’s Exchange Whale Ratio, which compares the top 10 largest deposits to exchanges with all other deposits, large BTC holders have been increasingly depositing more substantial quantities of the asset to trading platforms lately.
The metric typically stands above 85 only in bear markets. However, it has surged above 95 in the past few days after a sudden uptick ahead of the crash. Consequently, the analytics company warned that BTC’s price could face another downfall soon if whales decide to sell large quantities.
I’m just going to leave this chart here.https://t.co/FuXnSFWMMl https://t.co/InxHaic3w8 pic.twitter.com/kcLd6xECvt
— Ki Young Ju 주기영 (@ki_young_ju) December 6, 2021
Is It ‘Buy The Dip’ Time?
While “Extreme Fear” might not sound like a ringing bell for individuals to enter the crypto market, many experts actually believe that bitcoin being in that state is a good buying opportunity. It is worth mentioning that the billionaire investor – Warren Buffett – once said investors should be greedy when the crowd is fearful and vice versa.
By the looks of it, the authorities of El Salvador (the Latin American country where bitcoin is legal tender) are in favor of the price decline and support Buffett’s thesis. A few days ago, President Nayib Bukele announced that the nation purchased 150 more coins at an average price of just over $48,500.