I just noticed something interesting on Google Trends. Searches for 'bitcoin zero' in the United States hit an all-time high in February, right when the price was falling toward $60k. Sounds like mass panic, right? But here’s the odd part: globally, those same searches peaked in August and have since dropped quite a bit. So, the fear seems to be concentrated in the U.S., not a global phenomenon.

Historically, similar peaks in 2021 and 2022 coincided with local lows, which would suggest a contrarian signal. But there’s a methodological detail that changes things. Google Trends measures relative interest on a scale from 0 to 100, not absolute volume. When the Bitcoin user base is much larger than it was years ago, a peak of 100 doesn’t necessarily mean more people are searching in real terms. It just means the term spiked relatively. It’s like comparing a maximum from five years ago to one today: the audience has grown, and the metric can be misleading.

My interpretation is that retail anxiety is high in the United States, probably due to tariffs and rotation into safer assets. But as a contrarian buy signal, it’s not as clear-cut as it seems. Global searches are cooling off, suggesting that the panic is more localized than universal. It could be contrarian fuel, but without guarantees.

Meanwhile, Strategy just bought 535 bitcoins at around $80,340 each. Interesting timing considering all this.