[aylmao]

Now that you mention it, I weirdly never struggled with this. I wonder if it's because I first started using the terminal on macOS, which I think by default starts prompts with % instead of $ or >.

Trying to consciously think about the gut-feeling that makes me remember this, all I can come up with is that $ feels "heavier" than ^, which just leads it to naturally feel like the end of a line. Perhaps its verticalness makes it feel like the vertical blinking cursor, and that's what this gut-feeling is really about? I'm not sure, the mind is a mystery sometimes haha.