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But at the beginning of 2026, sentiment for crypto markets has been boosted as prices across large digital assets recover from last year’s long correction. The new data shows retail traders boosting up as ETF headlines and macro narratives are increasingly driving crypto price movements, with retailers increasing their confidence.
But the latest social and sentiment data collected by Santiment, which has been compiled by retail traders in recent weeks of flattening price action (and Bitcoin (BTC) tests key psychological levels), suggests that there is renewed optimism among retail retailers. Big-cap cryptocurrencies aren’t the only ones that have been recovering, however. Many altcoins and meme coins, in fact, also posted high gains as well.
Fresh Retail FOMO
Following months of bearish sentiment after Bitcoin’s October 2025 all-time high, social media discussion across platforms like X, Reddit and Telegram has suddenly changed to a more positive tone.
But Bitcoin is still at the center of this story. macroeconomic factors and traditional financial market dynamics have played a large role in its recent moves, with the move of . ETF flow headlines were a major factor, especially after US spot Bitcoin ETCs reported ‘large one-day net outflow by big issuers like BlackRock and Fidelity’.
But the pullback comes amid traders putting up risk ahead of critical US economic figures and predictions about cut interest rates that validates this perception, which says Bitcoin is increasingly trading like a macro-sensitive asset.
Ethereum has also had a more mixed sentiment profile with . Santiment said that “the debate about the world’s largest altcoin by market cap has centered less on price action and more with developments related to staking rewards associated with regulated investment products” (including those of ad-hoc reward) had been focused on prices. Despite the increasing interest in staking, sentiment has been scattered throughout. This essentially represents an absence of a specific catalyst for ETH in early 2026.
This is true for several major outperformers, as retail sentiment remains uneven and highly reactive to short-term catalysts.
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For example, Ripple (XRP) topped out with an almost 14% weekly gain. This coincided with an increase in interest about XRP’s January escrow unlock, which issued 1 billion tokens (a large number of it is said to have been re-locked). Retail participation was booming as the scheduled supply event, with strong early-year momentum, led to an explosion in retail sales. But optimism soared as traders tried to buy perceived dips, followed by renewed caution after prices recovered from recent highs.
Solana (SOL) also experienced a significant increase in sentiment and price, driven mostly by the institutional headlines such as Reuters report Morgan Stanley filed for ETFs with the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEEC) associated with Bitcoin or solani.
Meme Coins Rebound
Also, meme coins have re-entered the spotlight on meme coins. Double-digit gains were made in the week of Dogecoin (DOGE), OG, which posted gains of about 38–39% during the first days of 2026 with strong performance from the 21Shares 2x Long Dog ETF. This has led to new interest in the meme coin industry, as it grew under the performance of the ETF.
Several meme coins have also witnessed synchronized whale buying and social hype this year.
Thanks for reading ETH XRP and Meme Coins Shine as Retail Sentiment Reacts to Short-Term Catalysts
