‘Bitcoin’ search interest jumps as BTC reclaims $70,000

Online interest in Bitcoin jumped exponentially over the past week as the token staged a successful comeback from its yearly low of $62,000, according to Google Trends data. 

Searches for the term “Bitcoin” on Google hit their highest level in a year, scoring 100 for the week beginning February 1. This is the strongest reading in the past 12 months, with the previous high at 95 during November 16–23 last year, a period when bitcoin slid below $100,000 after months of consolidation above the range.

Traders use search trends to gauge retail participation in crypto markets during rallies or sell-offs and to determine when price swings will pull casual investors back into the market. 

Bitcoin volatility pulls retailers’ attention

The largest coin by market cap traded at $81,500 at the start of February, before tumbling to $60,000 within 5 days, according to CoinGecko pricing data. Bitcoin traders had not seen a drop that steep since October 2024. 

However, a price comeback inspired by retail buyers pushed the coin up 7.7% in the last 24 hours. At the time of this publication, the token had rebounded to $70,200, recovering a small chunk of the losses incurred in the week.

Bitwise Europe head André Dragosch sees the current price band as a sign that retail traders are back into the market. Moreover, institutions closed the week with positive spot BTC ETF netflows after three consecutive days of redemptions totaling over $1.3 billion, according to SoSoValue.

One analyst said American investors resumed buying after Bitcoin touched $60,000. “The Coinbase premium is now positive for the first time since mid-January,” Moreno wrote on X late Friday.

The Coinbase premium tracks price differences between Coinbase and offshore exchanges. A positive reading indicates stronger buying interest from US participants, which can influence a coin’s short-term momentum during volatile periods.

Still, the Crypto Fear & Greed Index from Alternative.me slid again on Saturday to an “Extreme Fear” score of 6. That level approaches readings last seen in June 2022, when the market was clouded by a period of severe stress and bearish tides.

Some research firms believe the recent rebound may not hold because it is a mere “counter-trend” rally market correction. Markus Thielen of 10X Research said Bitcoin could eventually test $50,000 following a near-term recovery.

“I think we are going to have a little counter-trend rally that might go sideways or bounce a little bit. But I think during the summer we make another low,” Thielen surmised. 

The latest decline also fully erased the so-called “Trump market” Bitcoin price that had initially taken the coin to $100,000 after Donald Trump’s election victory in November 2024.

Market analysts signal price rebound could be short-lived

According to another analyst, the rebound fits the profile of a technical bounce, but is not yet enough to be considered as a defined bull run. A bounce is a temporary price recovery driven by short covering, portfolio rebalancing, and changes in trader sentiment during a market pullback.

These recoveries emerge after periods of heightened fear, when selling pressure pauses briefly. They can be sharp but short-lived if the underlying buying interest subsides, which is why traders treat them as tactical opportunities to cash out profits.

Bitcoin’s Spent Output Profit Ratio (SOPR), which measures whether coins moved on-chain are sold at a profit or loss, has not definitively dropped below the market bottom threshold. When SOPR drops below 1, it means holders are realizing losses and may decide to sell to limit the bloodshed.

According to XWIN Research, a drop in SOPR below 1 does not usually signal a final market low. It tends to appear during the early or mid phases of bearish cycles, which may feature short-term rebounds followed by selling pressure.

Since the SOPR has not firmly moved back above 1 during the price correction, coupled with limited spot-driven inflows, the analyst has deemed BTC’s comeback as just “an adjustment phase.”

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