Over the previous few weeks I’ve seen loads of commentary, particularly on CT, “the cycle is over”, “alt season lifeless”, “bear market incoming”. In case you hearken to retail sentiment, you’d imagine the highest is in. And but, from the structural or cycle view, the bullish argument stays very a lot alive.
Listed below are three details value contemplating proper now:
The Crypto Concern and Greed Index, which aggregates volatility, momentum, social media, dominance, and search-trends, is at the moment displaying excessive worry (27) in crypto.On October 10/11 2025 (relying the place you might be on this blue marble) the crypto market endured what’s being referred to as the most important single-day spinoff, wipe-out in historical past. Over US$19 billion in liquidations, about 1.6 million merchants closed out. By no means even knew there have been that many energetic merchants, appears retail are ghosting atm and bots rule all tokens.However regardless of this large de-leveraging occasion, analysts at Galaxy Digital (Alex Thorn) say the structural bull market stays intact, due to tailwinds equivalent to AI capex, tokenisation and stable-coin progress.
So we’ve got, sentiment deeply bearish (worry), an enormous shock occasion (liquidations and leverage unwound), and structural tailwinds nonetheless in place. Traditionally, when the gang is overly bearish and structural momentum stays, the chances of the following leg up improve.
Why many voices are nonetheless so bearish
Why will we hear practically 8 in 10 merchants or analysts calling for a bear market? Just a few causes:
1. Affirmation bias & narrative‐looking for
We people (and our AI instruments) search for proof that reinforces our hunches, not for what challenges them.With so many individuals positioned for a bear, their scan of charts, indicators, headlines will emphasise “danger”, “crash”, “alt-dead”. They’ll see the October 10 liquidation and say “wtf, high is now”. However they might under-weight the details that (a) the drop was leverage-led not basic breakdown, (b) structural flows (i.e., institutional curiosity) stay. I imply simply this week Cobie bought Echo to Coinbase for $375m and his Up Solely Podcast for $25m, hardly bear market strikes. The irony is the very instruments meant to offer readability (on-chain analytics, social-sentiment AI, and so on) can amplify bias should you feed them the improper inputs or interpret outputs via the lens of what you already imagine.
2. Leverage wash-out seems like a breakdown
When $19 billion + will get liquidated and the market dumps 10–70% % in hours, it looks like a crash. Many interpret “liquidation occasion” = “bear market begins”. However as analysts identified, this one was triggered by skinny liquidity + heavy leverage + macro shock (US-China commerce tensions) greater than underlying demand collapse. Therefore many traders extrapolate that worth fall means cycle high. However that could be a false sign.
3. The alt-season query
Probably the most frequent bear-case arguments is “Okay, perhaps BTC holds up, however alt season is finished for this cycle”. And lets be actual for a second, for altcoins, the ache has been sharper and liquidity thinner. So even when BTC is structurally bullish, many really feel the broader “every part pumps” alt-season thesis has been invalidated reinforcing bearish commentary.
Why the bull situation continues to be very compelling
Given the bearish noise, right here’s why I lean towards the thesis that we’re nonetheless inside a bull construction, which means an enormous rally / alt-season continues to be believable earlier than a full-scale bear section hits.
Tailwinds intact
As famous, Galaxy Digital’s analysis flags AI capex, tokenisation, and stable-coin progress as structural drivers for crypto.Moreover, the narrative of AI + crypto is gathering weight: infrastructure, compute, decentralisation of AI fashions, and so on. Bloody Ocean and Fetch apart, the AI play continues to be on. These aren’t “humorous cash” narratives, they map to actual technological or geopolitical themes.
Sentiment excessive = uneven upside
When the fear-greed index is in excessive worry, typical historic logic says “consumers might start to seem, as a result of the gang is all out of bullish conviction”. In case you purchase when everybody else is scared, your upside is bigger. Clearly not a assure, however odds shift. Each time I’ve been via a correct alt season its been proper after I used to be crapping myself barely, as a result of I began to query my very own ideas, and at the very least thought-about, perhaps Im improper, or perhaps its totally different this time. Given sentiment is so skewed to bearish, the “if a bounce occurs” situation is much less crowded, and that’s useful for upside. I reckon that is smart.
Liquidation occasion reset the panorama
Large leverage flushes usually clear home. The October 10 occasion purged loads of short-term speculative froth, clearing the trail for the following transfer. Analysts see this as “dangerous information however not cycle-ending information”. In different phrases, the crash might have set the stage for the following leg up relatively than signaled the top of the bull.
Cycle and construction works regardless of noise
In case you undertake a cycle-framework, for instance should you have a look at the four-year rhythm of Bitcoin through halvings, you’ll observe the present build-up suggests the bull section isn’t clearly over but.Even when many imagine “alt season is lifeless”, the info suggests, as soon as BTC enters its subsequent main leg, alt-season might occur after a interval of consolidation and accumulation. That means a path, effectively at the very least to me of accumulation, then acceleration (BTC) into, alt-rotation.
Why the “alt-season earlier than bear market” situation deserves severe consideration
Let’s stroll via one believable narrative:
Accumulation PhaseAfter the leverage wash-out, main gamers quietly construct positions (BTC, ETH, chosen alts). Liquidity returns.
Up-leg / breakoutBTC breaks increased, maybe pushed by AI or narrative flows and institutional adoption. This triggers broader market confidence.
Alt-season rotationOnce the large boys (BTC/ETH) have run, capital rotates into smaller-cap altcoins looking for increased returns. Traditionally this occurs earlier than the broad bear market section. And it aint occurred but.
Cycle topSentiment flips from worry to greed to euphoria, additionally hasn’t occurred but. Leverage builds, extra froth emerges, at that time the bear case turns into dominant.
Bear & resetThe large correction comes, cycle resets, we begin accumulation for subsequent time.
If we are literally someplace between levels 1–2, then alt-season might nonetheless be forward, not behind. And the truth that so many are bearish could also be a contrarian indicator in any other case generally known as the (Opposite Cramer Indicator).
The elephant within the room, What about AI instruments & affirmation bias?
We reside in a world of unprecedented entry to knowledge, AI-powered sentiment instruments, on-chain analytics, social-media streams. We would assume meaning we should always have much less bias. However the reverse usually occurs and we use the instruments to bolster what we already imagine.
AI sentiment-models can course of hundreds of tweets, Reddit threads, funding-rate shifts, whale flows, and so on. But when your immediate or body is “search for indicators of high”, you’ll spotlight the bearish indicators.
Social media itself is topic to echo-chambers, bots, crowd psychology. AI fashions might misread hype or worry as “reality”. (Deep studying educational work exhibits giant language fashions used for crypto sentiment nonetheless wrestle with bias.)
The narrative drives the filter, In case you really feel the cycle is ending, you’ll choose the liquidation-event, the alt-failures, the tweet “market high”. In case you really feel the bull will proceed, you’ll emphasise tailwinds, institutional flows, and naturally cycle timing.
So the entry to AI instruments doesn’t robotically give readability, it offers extra knowledge and extra potential to self-select.
Pragmatically, use the instruments to problem your bias, not verify it. Ask “What proof helps the alternative of what I imagine?” relatively than “Discover me causes I’m proper.”
Skeptics’ objections, and the way I see them
It wouldn’t be a balanced article with out acknowledging the bear case.
“Liquidity drying up / macro danger excessive”True, macro danger (charges, financial institution stress, geopolitics) is actual. And if liquidity tightens, crypto suffers. However that’s legitimate for each bear and delayed bull eventualities. The truth that structural flows stay is the counter-weight.
“Alt season already failed”Sure, altcoins have lagged and suffered heavier ache. However that doesn’t imply they’ll’t have a second coming. If BTC leads after which rotation occurs, we might nonetheless see a significant alt transfer.
“Cycle high should be close to”Cycles do high, ultimately. However timing them exactly is near-impossible. If we assume “high is now” we might miss a big portion of upside earlier than inevitable decline and 4 extra years of absolute agony.
My takeaway, “odds” and positioning
If I had been to boil it down, the chances of a significant bull run and alt-season earlier than full bear market are meaningfully increased than many imagine. That doesn’t imply the market will instantly explode tomorrow. It means the risk-reward skews favour bullish upside greater than bears realise for my part.
So how would possibly you place?
Maintain conviction capital within the high-probability situation (bull tailwinds + low sentiment) however dimension fastidiously as a result of danger stays.
Use instruments (AI sentiment, on-chain flows, funding charges) to cross-check relatively than to justify your bias.
Monitor for indicators of rotation, if BTC runs strongly then alts start to wake, that might be a key set off.
Keep alert for when sentiment flips to euphoria-driven. That can mark the high-risk flip.
Keep away from considering “alt scheme is lifeless eternally”. As an alternative deal with the present section as presumably pre-rotation relatively than post-rotation.
TL;DR
We’ve a bizarre paradox, entry to AI and knowledge has by no means been larger, but we nonetheless see an enormous divergence of views in crypto. Why? As a result of most of us (and our instruments) are nonetheless looking for affirmation of what we really feel, not what the info might recommend. And in markets formed by psychology, liquidity and leverage, how we really feel issues loads.
Right this moment’s excessive worry, and the large latest liquidation occasion and still-intact structural drivers create an uncommon set-up. The group thinks it’s over. The tailwinds recommend it might simply be gearing up.
Don’t dismiss a bull leg or alt-season simply since you anticipate a bear. The chances is perhaps higher than you realise.
