Crypto markets have opened 2026 on a much stronger footing after months of weakness, with altcoins and meme coins rebounding and overall sentiment improving.
What Happened: According to Santiment data, improving retail sentiment across major crypto assets is being driven less by hype cycles and more by macro forces, ETF flows, and positioning dynamics.
Bitcoin (CRYPTO: BTC), up around 3% on the week, is increasingly behaving like a macro asset.
Price action is now closely tied to spot ETF flows, U.S. economic data, and interest rate expectations rather than crypto-native narratives.
While selling pressure has eased and sentiment has improved, $90,000 remains a key psychological level.
Santiment notes that a deeper pullback into the mid-to-high $80,000s could briefly reignite retail fear, potentially setting up a stronger move later in the year.