On May 22, Bitcoin reached a new all-time high of $112,000, driven by a White House decision to delay the implementation of 50% tariffs on EU imports — a move seen as bullish by investors. But the rally quickly lost steam.

According to analytics firm Santiment, social sentiment peaked right at the top, followed by an immediate market correction. Platforms like X, Reddit, and Telegram saw their most bullish chatter of the year on the day of the ATH, which rapidly reversed. Once again, extreme optimism proved to be a contrarian signal.

Political noise added fuel to the pullback. Talk of “tariffs” and “trade wars” surged online, echoing the kind of fear seen during April’s downturn. Even though a federal court ruling on May 28 temporarily blocked the proposed tariff measures, uncertainty remains a market-moving factor.

Yet despite the cooling, speculative bets continue. The most popular Bitcoin call option is now set at $300,000 — suggesting that long-term investor confidence remains high.

Santiment further highlights that crowd fear has aligned with price bottoms. On May 25, amid widespread panic, BTC bounced to $106,000 — again showing how sentiment extremes mark key reversals. Meanwhile, blockchain fundamentals remain strong: over 147,000 BTC have left exchanges in 2025, reducing immediate selling pressure.

Another key metric — the Mean Dollar Invested Age (MDIA) — continues to drop since mid-April. This suggests older coins are moving again, typically associated with the start of a new bullish phase. According to Santiment, the current rally is not driven by hype alone.

Meanwhile, whale behavior shows clear signs of profit-taking. On May 22, the number of $100,000+ BTC transactions hit 18,782 — the highest since Trump’s inauguration in January. One whale reportedly held a 40x leveraged long position now worth $1.2 billion. If BTC falls below $104,810, a liquidation cascade may follow.

Despite short-term volatility, on-chain signals confirm Bitcoin is entering a new price discovery phase. The road to $300K won’t be smooth — but neither have investor expectations ever been this high.

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