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Strategy founder Michael Saylor says Bitcoin hasn’t reached $150,000 yet because holders without a long-term outlook have been selling off while a new cohort of investors are beginning to enter the market.

“I think we’re going through a rotation right now,” Saylor said on the Coin Stories podcast with Natalie Brunell on May 9.

The lack of “10-year investor mindset” led to Bitcoin sell-off

Saylor said “lots of non-economically interested parties are rotating out of the asset.” However, at the same time, “a new cohort of investors are entering.”

“A lot of Bitcoin, for whatever reason, was left in the hands of the governments and the hands of lawyers, and in the hands of bankruptcy trustees,” he added.

Saylor said that many of these trustees do not have a “10-year investors mindset,” and as Bitcoin’s (BTC) price began to rally, they took advantage and “thought this is a good exit point to get liquidity.”

“So I think people less committed to the long term have taken the opportunity to exit the market and a whole new class of investors are entering by way of ETFs and by way of Bitcoin treasury companies.”

After Bitcoin reached its all-time high of $109,000 on Jan. 20 just hours before US President Donald Trump’s presidential inauguration, it experienced a downtrend, falling as low as $76,273 on April 9, before starting to show signs of recovery.

On May 8, Bitcoin reclaimed $100,000 for the first time since Feb. 1 after US President Donald Trump proposed tariffs. The recent price surge has pushed Strategy’s Bitcoin holdings to 50.27% above their average Bitcoin purchase price of $68,569. At the time of publication, the firm holds 555,450 Bitcoin, valued at approximately $57.23 billion, according to Saylor Tracker data.

Saylor is surprised at US government sentiment shift

Spot Bitcoin ETFs posted $564.7 in inflows over the past five trading days, according to Farside data.

Meanwhile, Saylor said he’s not surprised the US government hasn’t yet bought Bitcoin for its Strategic Bitcoin Reserve which Trump signed an executive order for on March 7. The reserve is holding Bitcoin that was forfeited as part of criminal or civil asset forfeiture proceedings.

However, Saylor didn’t anticipate their stance to quickly change so positively following Trump’s inauguration.

Related: Strive to become Bitcoin treasury company

“I was surprised that the US embraced Bitcoin as radically as it has over the last six months, I think I didn’t expect all the Cabinet members to be so enthusiastic,” he said.

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Key takeaways:

• ETH price rallied by 22% on May 8, but demand for spot ETH ETFs and derivatives remains muted. 

• President Trump’s reversal on certain altcoins aligns with ETH’s renewed outlook. 

Ether (ETH) posted an impressive 29% gain between May 8 and May 9, likely marking the end of a 10-week bear market that bottomed out at $1,385 on April 9. This sharp move triggered the liquidation of over $400 million in short (sell) ETH futures positions, suggesting that whales and market makers were caught off guard.

Despite the surge, traders have maintained a neutral stance in ETH derivatives. Whether this apparent lack of conviction reflects a genuine trend reversal or merely precedes another test of the $2,000 level remains to be seen.

The ETH futures premium has yet to exceed the 5% threshold typically associated with a neutral market, indicating that demand for leveraged bullish positions remains notably limited. ETH’s continued underperformance—trailing the altcoin market capitalization by 17% in 2025—helps explain the prevailing lack of investor confidence.

Some analysts interpret this as an opening for further short covering, while others contend that Ethereum’s core fundamentals have yet to improve meaningfully.

Ethereum maintains leadership in decentralization and TVL

Irrespective of Ether’s price action, recent network upgrades have notably enhanced layer-2 scalability. More importantly, they have helped solidify Ethereum’s position as the leading platform in terms of decentralization and security. This is reflected in Ethereum’s total value locked (TVL), which stands at $64 billion. For comparison, the three largest direct competitors—Solana, BNB Chain, and Tron—collectively hold a total value locked (TVL) of $22.3 billion. 

The limited demand for spot Ether exchange-traded funds (ETFs) has emerged as a key warning sign. Even Ether’s strongest single-day price performance in four years failed to prevent a third consecutive day of net outflows, according to data from Farside Investors. On May 8 alone, US-listed Ether spot ETFs experienced net outflows totaling $16 million.

The muted enthusiasm following Ether’s recent bullish momentum can be partly attributed to the sharp 85% drop in Ethereum network fees from January to April. Reduced network activity lowers overall demand for ETH and negatively affects net staking yields, as the protocol’s burn mechanism relies on competition for data processing.

ETH options markets also offer insight into whether whales and market makers anticipate further downside risks. 

Currently, put (sell) options are trading at similar levels to equivalent call (buy) options, indicating a neutral sentiment. This outcome is somewhat discouraging for Ether bulls. Nevertheless, Ether could regain market attention after US President Donald Trump reversed his position following earlier public endorsements of competing altcoins.

Related: Ether clocks ‘insane’ 20% candle post Pectra — A turning point?

According to a Politico report published on May 8, President Trump felt he had been “used” and had severed ties with the lobbyist who reportedly proposed the idea of a strategic crypto reserve. While Trump’s social media post on March 2 specifically mentioned Solana (SOL), Cardano (ADA), and XRP, the subsequent March 6 “Digital Asset Stockpile” Executive Order struck a much more reserved tone.

Despite the evident apathy in both the Ether derivatives market and spot ETF flows, a rally toward the $2,700 level remains plausible—especially if investor sentiment shifts in response to the failed lobbying efforts undertaken by some of Ethereum’s competitors.

This article is for general information purposes and is not intended to be and should not be taken as legal or investment advice. The views, thoughts, and opinions expressed here are the author’s alone and do not necessarily reflect or represent the views and opinions of Cointelegraph.

The newly launched DOOD token from Ethereum-based NFT project Doodles has seen a steep drop in market capitalization following its May 9 airdrop on the Solana network.

According to data from DEX Screener, DOOD’s market cap fell from over $100 million shortly after launch to around $60 million at the time of writing.

Overall, the much-anticipated airdrop was “[d]efinitely underwhelming,” a crypto commentator said in a May 9 X post. 

Related: Doodles NFT sales surge 97% ahead of DOOD token airdrop

Falling NFT values

Joining the trend, NFTs in Doodle’s flagship collection sharply dropped in value on May 9.

The collectibles are down roughly 60% to less than 1.5 Ether (ETH) per NFT from about 3.5 ETH on May 8, according to OpenSea. As of May 9, the NFTs are collectively worth around $31 million, according to data from CoinGecko.

NFT prices often dip immediately after an airdrop, as holders look to capitalize on their allocations by selling into the market. For instance, sales of Doodles’ NFTs surged by some 97% on May 8 in anticipation of the airdrop.

Over the past week, Doodles clocked roughly $2.6 million in total sales volume, up more than 350% from the week prior, according to data from CryptoSlam.

Doodles announced its token launch in February, outlining plans to mint 10 billion DOOD tokens on Solana (SOL) and to eventually bridge them to Base, an Ethereum layer-2.

Doodles is the latest Ethereum-native NFT brand to list a token on the Solana network. It follows Pudgy Penguins, an even larger NFT project that airdropped its PENGU token on Solana in December. 

Similarly to Doodles, Pudgy Penguin’s token dropped by around 50% on the day of its airdrop. 

The PENGU token’s market cap reached an all-time high of roughly $2.8 billion and has since traded down to roughly $900 million, according to CoinGecko.

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Key Takeaways:

• Solana’s 15% surge and potential close above the 50-week EMA signal strong bullish momentum, which previously led to a 515% rally in 2024.

• The $120 million in liquidity bridged to Solana reflects growing network confidence.

Solana (SOL) price gained 18% this week, signaling rising bullish momentum. The altcoin is approaching a pivotal point, with a potential close above the 50-week exponential moving average (EMA), a level that has historically catalyzed significant rallies.

In March, SOL dipped below the 50-week EMA and briefly dropped under $100 on April 7. Since then, Solana has staged a strong recovery, reclaiming key EMA levels (100W and 200W), with the 50-week EMA (blue line) now in focus.

Historical patterns reinforce a bullish outlook. In October 2023, SOL breached the 50- and 100-week EMAs, consolidating above these levels before rallying 515% by March 2024.

Notably, the relative strength index (RSI) was below 50 during both periods, mirroring the current setup, with the indicator rebounding above 50 after the 50-week EMA flipped to support. If the 50-week moving average holds, the price targets for SOL could be between $250 and $350 by September 2025.

The daily chart bolsters this narrative. Solana recently closed above the 200-day EMA, with immediate resistance at $180. A break above this level in the coming weeks and turning the range into a support level could potentially ignite a parabolic rally by Q3 2025.

Related: Solana lacks ‘convincing signs’ of besting Ethereum: Sygnum

Users bridge $165 million to Solana

In the last 30 days, over $165 million in liquidity has been bridged to Solana from other blockchains, reflecting growing confidence in the network. Ethereum led with $80.4 million in transfers, followed by Arbitrum with $44 million, per Debridge data. Base, BNB Chain, and Sonic contributed $20 million, $8 million, and $6 million, respectively.

Similarly, data from DefiLlama indicates that Solana posted the highest decentralized exchange (DEX) volumes, 3.32 billion, over the past 24 hours. The network currently holds 28.99% of the market share among other chains.

With a 28.99% market share among competing chains, Solana’s dominance in DeFi activity highlights its scalability and user adoption.

Currently, substantial liquidity inflows and strong DEX volumes position Solana for a sustained price breakout.

Related: Chance of Bitcoin price highs above $110K in May increasing — Here’s why

This article does not contain investment advice or recommendations. Every investment and trading move involves risk, and readers should conduct their own research when making a decision.