To judge a bull market, you need to look at five signals Cryptocurrency bull markets typically require simultaneous improvement in prices, capital flows, on chain data, and broader market participation, and a short-term rise in Bitcoin alone is not enough to confirm the trend. Whether the cryptocurrency market has entered a bull market cannot be judged solely by the strong performance of Bitcoin in a few days. A more valuable signal for reference is that the price has remained stable in the long-term key range, accompanied by the inflow of new funds, improvement in on chain profits, and Ethereum and more tokens starting to rise. Bitcoin remains the core asset for determining market stages. Compared to a short-term surge, consistently standing at important resistance levels and within the investor cost range can better indicate whether the buying market has continuity. More importantly, there needs to be a sustained net inflow of funds, as a simple price increase may not be sufficient to support a new round of expansion. Institutional demand is now also one of the important signals. The US spot Bitcoin ETF can absorb a large amount of BTC and amplify the upward trend when there is a continuous net inflow of funds. In May 2026, this type of fund recorded net inflows for six consecutive weeks, totaling approximately $3.4 billion. This is seen as an example of the rapid strengthening of institutional demand in the market. The decline in Bitcoin market share may indicate that funds are beginning to shift towards altcoins, but this alone cannot prove that a bull market has been established. The true market for altcoins usually requires a wider range of tokens to outperform, rather than a few individual projects experiencing short-term gains. A more reliable bull market assessment typically requires multiple indicators to appear simultaneously: Bitcoin moving out of higher and lower peaks over a longer period of time, continuous net inflows of ETF and spot funds, rather than relying solely on leverage, price increases accompanied by increased trading volume On chain profitability has improved, but long-term holders have not experienced large-scale selling, altcoins have become widely involved, and Bitcoin market share has fallen There is no single indicator that can confirm a bull market. A stronger signal is that there is real capital inflow, on chain data improvement, and broader market participation behind the price increase. If only prices are moving, market reversals are usually faster.