Bitcoin (BTC) price began recovering on April 18, regaining the $63,000 level as BTC led a crypto-wide market recovery. 

Data from Cointelegraph Markets Pro and TradingView shows that the BTC price rose rapidly on April 18, from an opening at $60,618, climbing 5.5%, to an intraday high of $64,240. The upside move recovered the April 17 losses and has traders wondering if the retrace is over.

BTC/USD daily chart. Source: TradingView

Let’s look into the reasons why the Bitcoin price is up today.

Bearish crowd sentiment signals the market bottom

Market intelligence firm Santimet says crypto crowd sentiment has turned bearish following the latest drawdown in Bitcoin price. In an April 18 post on X, the firm shared a chart showing that the crypto community has made consistent bearish comments toward Bitcoin and other large-cap tokens such as Ether (ETH) and Solana (SOL).

“The crowd has maintained a consistently #bearish sentiment toward top caps, which strengthens the argument for more rising.”
Crowd crypto sentiment. Source: Santiment

The chart above reveals that the number of "bull market" or "bull cycle" mentions on crypto social media has declined since March 14, when Bitcoin hit a record high of $73,835.

At the same time, the number of "bear market" or "bear cycle" mentions has steadily increased.

Historically, bearish crowd sentiment has been observed at market bottoms. Santiment analysts wrote:

“Historically, prices move in the opposite direction of mass traders' expectations. The quick dropoff of #FOMO combined with a notable rise in #FUD is a promising combination that #cryptocurrency may see a recovery either right before the #halving or shortly after.”

Reduced hopes of Fed rate cuts in 2024 and the escalating geopolitical uncertainties have weighed down BTC price, leading to a 10% weekly drop at the time of publication.

Data from Alternative.me, a platform that tracks “emotions and sentiments” around Bitcoin, reveals that although the Crypto Fear and Greed Index has substantially dropped from last week’s value of 76 and last month’s figure of 79 when the sentiments were in the “extreme greed” zone, it is still in the “greed” zone at 57.

Crypto greed and fear index. Source: Alternative.me

This suggests that Bitcoin traders remain positive despite over a week of price corrections.

Accumulation activity remains high among Bitcoin holders

Increased accumulation among Bitcoin investors accompanied BTC’s latest drop below $60,000. Data from CryptoQuant revealed a significant movement of more than 27,700 BTC, equivalent to approximately $1.72 billion on April 15, as shared by independent trader and X user Ali.

Bitcoin Inflows into accumulation addresses. Source: CryptoQuant

This data suggests investors have a substantial interest in accumulating Bitcoin in anticipation of future price appreciation.

Bitcoin accumulation is supported by reducing BTC deposits on exchanges. More data from CryptoQuant reveals that the number of deposit transactions to known exchange wallets started decreasing on March 5, when BTC’s price breached its previous all-time high of $69,000.This drop continued on April 12 despite the price falling more than 8% on the day to a low of $65,115. BTC deposits to exchanges declined from 38,910 on March 5 transactions to 21,866 on April 15.

Number of BTC depositing transactions to exchanges. Source: CryptoQuat

Decreasing transfer of BTC to exchanges suggests a lack of intent to sell, which is generally a bullish sign.

Related: BTC price bounces at support that fueled 2023 bull market

Bitcoin short liquidations ramp up

A sharp movement in the Bitcoin futures market appears to have been a reason for today’s price leap. The timing of the short liquidations coincided with the sudden rise in the price of the pioneer cryptocurrency.

Data from Coinglass shows that more than $32.52 million in BTC short positions have been liquidated over the last 24 hours. Total liquidations across the crypto market amounted to $174.9 million.

Cryptocurrency liquidations. Source: Coinglass

Typically, short liquidations occur when the price of the asset being traded suddenly rises. This is because traders who were bullish on the asset and had opened short positions face losses since the market has moved against them.

This article does not contain investment advice or recommendations. Every investment and trading move involves risk, and readers should conduct their own research when making a decision.