Abstract:
This study investigates the relationship between Facebook sentiment and Bitcoin market dynamics using AI-based emotion detection. We analyze 120,000 Facebook posts collected via CrowdTangle alongside Bitcoin financial data from the Blockchain Research Center, covering 2015–2023. Employing FinBERT for sentiment classification, we develop novel compound sentiment scores that integrate text-based sentiment with Facebook’s multi-reaction engagement system, then apply four analytical components: sentiment analysis, Dynamic Topic Modeling, sentiment-based trading strategies, and machine learning volume prediction. Results demonstrate that Facebook sentiment has substantial predictive power for Bitcoin trading volume. Sentiment-based trading strategies significantly outperform buy-and-hold, achieving superior cumulative returns and risk-adjusted performance. For volume prediction, Linear Regression and Bidirectional LSTM achieve comparable test performance, indicating that model complexity does not guarantee superior prediction. Topic modeling reveals that cryptocurrency investment and trading discussions dominate Bitcoin discourse on Facebook, with themes evolving over time in response to market conditions. This research contributes by being the first to apply post-level NLP sentiment analysis of Facebook data to cryptocurrency markets, extending beyond the Twitter and Reddit focus of prior research. The findings provide practical tools for traders and analysts navigating volatile digital asset markets while demonstrating that Facebook’s demographically diverse user base and rich reaction system offer unique advantages for sentiment quantification.
