Bitcoin (BTC) just wrote another chapter in Wall Street's favorite meme: when Jim Cramer turns bearish, do the opposite. After Cramer went on CNBC warning that crypto's recent bounce "makes no sense" and flagged dangerous leverage in the market, Bitcoin did exactly what contrarian traders hoped it would—it rallied hard.
From around $85,973 on November 21 to roughly $90,473 this week, Bitcoin posted a 6.8% gain over five days. The timing was too good for crypto enthusiasts to resist.
The Setup Was Textbook
Going into Thanksgiving week, Bitcoin looked genuinely beaten down. The cryptocurrency had dropped more than 21% over the prior month, was off about 3% year-to-date, and showed slight losses versus the past 12 months. Sentiment was cracking, liquidations were piling up, and derivatives positioning looked stretched to the breaking point.
That's when Cramer made his move, questioning the rally's credibility and highlighting structural risks lurking beneath the price action. For crypto traders who've long treated Cramer's calls as a sentiment gauge rather than investment wisdom, this was the signal they'd been waiting for. The "inverse-Cramer" playbook—the crowdsourced belief that markets often do the opposite of what Cramer predicts—was dusted off once again. Bitcoin bounced right on schedule.
The Bulls Are Still Talking Big
Adding more fuel to the fire, Bitmine Immersion Technologies Inc (BMNR) chair and perpetual Bitcoin optimist Tom Lee walked back his eye-popping $250,000 year-end target. He downgraded hitting a record high in 2024 to a "maybe," but made it clear he still expects Bitcoin to break above $100,000 before 2025 wraps up.
Meanwhile, gold advocate and Bitcoin skeptic Peter Schiff took to X ahead of Blockchain Week in Dubai, promising he looked forward to "un-orange-pilling" believers. The comment only sharpened the tribal battle lines and gave Bitcoin supporters more reason to dig in.
For traders who pay more attention to market psychology than price projections, this mix of public doubt, exhausted positioning, and loud bearish calls from recognizable voices creates exactly the kind of environment where contrarian plays work.
What Comes Next
Bitcoin is clawing back from a deep drawdown, and sentiment is doing most of the heavy lifting right now. If the momentum sticks and short sellers start scrambling to cover, the inverse-Cramer crowd might get to celebrate another win. But with volatility picking up and macro uncertainty still hanging over everything, this bounce needs to prove itself quickly.
The current scorecard: Cramer cautious, Schiff circling with skepticism, Lee still bullish despite dialing back his timeline—and Bitcoin refusing to stay down. Whether this rally has legs or fizzles out, one thing's certain: the inverse-Cramer legend just got another data point.