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Not all good news is a buy signal. Sometimes, the most positive headlines mark a turning point – a phenomenon investors know all too well as “Sell the News.”
A Wave of Good News – and a Swift Market Correction
The first week of May 2025 saw a flood of positive headlines pour into the crypto market. Bitcoin surged past $103,000 for the first time since January. The Fear & Greed Index jumped from 48 to 70 in just three days, while the total global crypto market cap added over $160 billion, surpassing the $3.2 trillion mark.
Source: Alternative.me
Ethereum’s ecosystem also got a major boost as the long-anticipated Pectra upgrade was successfully deployed, pushing ETH above $2,250 – its highest level since late March.
At the same time, U.S. jobless claims dropped to 228,000, below expectations of 234,000, fueling investor optimism that the Fed might hold interest rates steady or even begin a rate-cutting cycle in Q3. The bullish sentiment spread quickly, sending altcoins like SOL, AVAX, TON, and INJ up by more than 15% over just four trading sessions.
Source: CoinGecko
Yet within less than 48 hours, the market reversed sharply. Bitcoin slipped below $101,800, Ethereum fell back to around $2,100, and many altcoins shed between 5% and 10% of their value. Investor sentiment turned cautious, with capital rotating out of the week’s top gainers. Once again, the crypto community echoed a familiar phrase: “Sell the News.”
Source: CoinGecko
Good News Doesn’t Always Mean Price Gains: Lessons from Market History
In traditional finance, the saying “Buy the rumor, sell the news” is an unwritten rule backed by decades of market behavior. But in crypto, where reactions are faster and greed often outweighs fundamentals – the phenomenon becomes even more pronounced.
One of the most classic examples was the launch of the ProShares Bitcoin Futures ETF (BITO) in October 2021. In the lead-up to approval, BTC rallied nearly 40%, from $43,000 to an all-time high of $67,000. However, just three days after the ETF began trading on the NYSE, Bitcoin reversed sharply and entered a months-long correction, ending the year at $47,000. Investors had expected good news to drive fresh inflows, but instead, it marked a sentiment top.
A similar pattern emerged in January 2024, when the SEC rejected multiple Spot Ethereum ETFs and markets dipped only modestly. Then, as rumors of approval resurfaced in late February, ETH surged from $1,650 to $2,300 in just 10 days. But after the SEC officially greenlit four Spot ETH ETFs in March, ETH unexpectedly dropped 12% during the first week following the announcement.
Source: TradingView
More recently, in April 2025, Pudgy Penguins’ $PENGU token soared to $0.48 after a Walmart partnership announcement and a spike in Google Trends interest. Just one day later, the token crashed over 60% as the team unlocked a large tranche of tokens for the community.
The meme coin market has also repeatedly echoed this pattern. In December 2023, BONK on Solana jumped over 300% in six days as rumors spread of a major centralized exchange partnership. Yet just two days after the news was confirmed, BONK lost nearly half its value within 48 hours.
Market Sentiment: When Expectations Outrun Reality
The “Sell the News” phenomenon rarely happens because the news itself is bad, rather, it’s because the market has already “priced in” the good news, with expectations running ahead of reality. According to CryptoQuant, between April 28 and May 10, stablecoin inflows to exchanges rose by 27%, indicating that investors were proactively preparing liquidity to “ride the news.”
Source: CryptoQuant
However, during the same period, the number of whale wallets (holding between 1,000 and 10,000 BTC) remained largely flat, suggesting that the new inflows came primarily from short-term speculators. This aligns with a common pattern in crypto, where price rallies are often driven more by FOMO than long-term accumulation.
Source: CryptoQuant
Technical indicators also flashed warnings. On May 9, the daily RSI for both Bitcoin and ETH surpassed 70, signaling overbought conditions. Meanwhile, trading volume began to decline even as prices kept rising – a classic setup for a potential reversal. Data from Glassnode further showed a modest uptick in BTC deposits to exchanges on May 10, which coincided with the market’s short-term top.
Conclusion
The “Sell the News” phenomenon is an inherent part of market cycles, especially during unsustainable rallies or when information spreads too quickly. However, that doesn’t mean every piece of good news should be viewed with skepticism. The key lies in analyzing the substance of the news and the capital flow that follows it.
There’s no one-size-fits-all answer to whether you should hold or sell when good news breaks. But three fundamental principles can help guide decision-making:
First, assess the underlying value of the information. A technical upgrade (like Ethereum’s Pectra) may offer long-term benefits, while token listing announcements or airdrops often provide only short-term upside.
Second, monitor capital flows. If TVL, active users, and on-chain metrics remain largely unchanged after a major announcement, there’s a high probability the rally is sentiment-driven and unlikely to last.
Lastly, establish your exit strategy in advance – including clear profit-taking levels or leverage reductions. Making decisions amid volatile market moves often leads to emotional reactions and unexpected losses.
Read more: Trading with Free Crypto Signals in Evening Trader Channel
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