So here is a graph of BTC price, BTCUSD longs and BTCUSD Shorts. What do you notice about this chart?
First thing, you should note that people suck at shorting and going long. lol... just kidding. So, before you continue reading, take a look at the notes I have on the chart.
Welcome back. First, lets look at the "BTCUSD longs" trend since the downtrend. Notice how at every peak, the BTCUSD Longs peak out. And each big downtrend resulted in a correlated uptrend with long positions. And through that last uptrend AND downtrend, they've remained flat. What does this mean? It means that the market is turning neutral in their positions. It's sad that it's taken a 60% drop and 6 months of downtrending for people to realize that we're in a bear market. And, and by the charts, they still think we're neutral!
Usually I try to trade against market sentiment. Because very often, it is wrong. People get emotionally invested into the price action, and it skews their views into an inappropriate bias. But sometimes, market sentiment is correct. What I've noticed, is that market sentiment is never correct at the bottom nor the top of swing highs and lows. Otherwise, we'd all be rich!
What moves the market is big money. Whales, institutions, etc. And if you take a look at the correlation between these peaks and valleys of ACTUAL price and net longs/shorts at those peaks and valleys, you will see that what i said is VERY true. If EVERYONE is bullish, then we're probably topping out, if EVERYONE is bearish, then we're probably hitting a bottom. Most retail investors are always late to the party.
That being said. Let's take a look at BTCUSD Shorts. People suck at shorting. Why? People the natural slope of the market is up. It's always harder to short, and people tend to shy away from it. So when do they choose to short? When the downtrend is obvious and its way too late.
Well guess what. Take a look at each yellow circle here. Notice whenever the Shorts reach a peak, the price spikes up and shorts get liquidated. Note this, the big money needs liquidity in the market to keep it moving. For example, say we are in a downtrend. We are reaching near the bottom of the downtrend (or the buy zone/accumulation period), and retail investors are finally catching on. They begin to short. EVERYONE is selling. If everyone is selling, then where are the buyers? Who can you sell to if there are no buyers? So, what do you have to do as a result of there being an illiquid order book of people trying to catch a falling knife? You've got to pump the price up, liquidate the shorters, and keep the market moving in order to reach your accumulation/buy zone. It happens ALL the time, and the crypto market is just now starting to see how this all works because it was in such a long bullish stretch. These pumps and dumps happen in every market, and its to provide liquidity. It is a market scheme. It isn't very ethical, but its what big money does to keep the market moving. It's a form of greed, but its how the market works.
Take a note of where both Longs and Shorts are now. When we begin to see the two lines converge, then that is a sign that at least some type of trend pause, or reversal is ahead.