Thomson Reuters Launches Gauge to Give Sense of Bitcoin Sentiment

In the hopes of adding another edge to investors’ bows, Thomson Reuters is looking to track hundreds of news and social media outlets for chatter and sentiment about Bitcoin. The idea is that the gauge will give a sense of the general sentiment at the time.

It comes as a new version of its MarketPsych Indices which is being run in conjunction with a behavioral economics research firm. The index will scan over 400 websites in order to capture the sentiment on Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies art the time.

Popular tactic

Cryptocurrencies are still very speculative and subject to famous volatile price swings. A lot of this volatility has to do with external factors as well as the perception of cryptocurrencies at the time.

Gauging sentiment on cryptocurrencies through the news and forums has been a long proven and popular move among traders and investors, but is also a known tactic in the traditional sphere.

In fact, there is already correlations being drawn between Bitcoin price and the amount of Google searches surrounding the digital currency.

“News and social media are driving the investment and risk management process more than ever with the continuing rise of passive and quant-driven trading,” said Austin Burkett, Global Head of Quant and Feeds, Thomson Reuters.

Greed and fear

The index allows for investors to track different metrics in order to see what the sentiment is and where the price will be going along with this feeling.

Using metrics such as "greed" and "fear" both accredited and non-accredited investors can identify hedging opportunities or create buy-sell orders when a particular trait reaches a certain level or changes over a certain period of time.