Bitcoin rebounded at the $96,000 level, but behind this rally, institutions and retail investors have long gone their separate ways.

The data is in front of us: clients of BlackRock have accumulated over $6.466 billion worth of Bitcoin recently. Meanwhile, the Santiment Fear Index is soaring, with retail investors creating a panic level at a ten-day high. On one hand, they are buying frantically; on the other, they are terrified—this kind of market disconnect actually reveals a lot.

Why do institutions have such confidence? Frankly, they don’t care about short-term ups and downs. Instead, during the most chaotic market times, institutional funds are the most active. While retail investors are still debating whether this rebound can continue or whether they should chase, big institutions are quietly accumulating positions.

Interestingly, the current pessimism among retail investors is not fundamentally a judgment that the market has topped out, but rather a doubt about the strength of the rebound. This kind of psychological divergence usually appears when a trend is about to heat up, not when the market is nearing a top. From a logical perspective, this actually provides more solid support for the market.

From a technical standpoint, Bitcoin has broken out of its previous consolidation phase. After a sharp decline and washout, the price has been oscillating within the $85,000 to $96,000 range, completing a bottoming process, and now it has broken upward. More importantly, the once formidable resistance at $95,000 has now been effectively broken and stabilized. A resistance line that once suppressed the market has turned into a new support—this is a sign of a trend reversal.