Interest in cryptocurrencies among US investors has cooled, even though awareness remains widespread and Bitcoin still moves within a narrow band. A new study from the FINRA Investor Education Foundation indicates that many investors now think more carefully about high-risk assets, while activity in the derivatives market points to weaker expectations for sharp swings in Bitcoin’s price.
FINRA surveyed 2,861 US investors. The data shows that 27% still hold cryptocurrency, the same share as in 2021. However, only 26% now consider a crypto purchase, down from 33% three years earlier, pointing to weaker demand for new exposure.
Fewer Americans have started investing since the pandemic-era boom faded. Only 8 percent of current investors entered the market within the past two years, compared with 21 percent who started in the two years before 2021. Participation among adults under 35 fell to 26 percent from 32 percent, while entry rates for men and people of colour also declined.
Investors increasingly describe crypto as a high-risk bet. About 66% of respondents who know about digital assets now call them extremely risky, up from 58% in 2021. Risk appetite softened across age groups, with only 8% of investors saying they feel comfortable taking substantial risk in their portfolios, down from 12% three years earlier.
The drop appears sharp among younger market participants. Among investors under 35, the share willing to take substantial risk fell to 15% from 24%, even though many still say they need bigger risks to reach long-term goals. At the same time, FINRA notes that younger investors trade options and use margin more often than older investors, which can increase potential losses during volatile markets.
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Bitcoin’s recent trading pattern mirrors this more cautious mood. The largest cryptocurrency has moved mainly between $80,000 and $100,000 over the past three weeks and recently slipped to about $88,000. Options open interest concentrates in contracts expiring in late December, where many traders sell volatility and position for range-bound price action.
Perpetual futures funding rates have turned negative, which shows that short sellers now pay long traders to maintain positions. Institutional flows tell a similar story. BlackRock’s iShares Bitcoin Trust has recorded more than $2.7 billion in net outflows over five weeks.
Bitcoin now trails the S&P 500 on a year-to-date basis for the first time in more than a decade. Together, the FINRA findings and market data indicate that crypto now sits in a more mature yet cautious phase, where investors still hold digital assets but add exposure more selectively.