The once-bullish sentiment for October, dubbed “Uptober” by the crypto community, is fading as markets continue to retreat. Onchain analytics provider Santiment has observed a significant drop in mentions of Uptober since the start of the month.

Traders are becoming increasingly bearish, with social media now filled with memes about “Selltober” and “Octobear.”

However, Santiment founder Maksim Balashevich suggests that this lack of optimism might pave the way for a short-term bounce. Veteran crypto trader Ash Crypto, with 1.1 million followers on X, noted on Oct. 3 that Bitcoin (BTC) might drop further to shake off Uptober believers, predicting a strong pump once bears start calling for $40k to $45k.

In an Oct. 4 note to investors, 10x Research analysts highlighted that many crypto bulls have been caught off guard since March, expecting the rally to continue. They pointed out that technical indicators suggested the rally was overextended, with sell-offs from early adopters and large token unlocks driving prices down despite strong inflows from stablecoins, Bitcoin Spot ETFs, and increased futures leverage.

Since the beginning of October, the crypto market has declined by around $200 billion, or roughly 8%. As of October 3, total market capitalization fell 1.9% to mid-September levels, standing at $2.2 trillion, according to CoinGecko.

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