Crypto Fear and Greed Index
A 0–100 sentiment gauge built from volatility, momentum, social volume, dominance and search trends. Extreme fear has historically marked areas where sellers were exhausted; extreme greed has marked the opposite. It is a context tool, not a trigger.
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- NMLS ID 1804170 · 40+ US state licences
- Operating since 2013
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Sentiment right now
dailyFetching the latest published reading…
History
How to read the gauge
The index is deliberately contrarian in framing — the well-worn line is "be fearful when others are greedy, and greedy when others are fearful". The bands are:
- 0–24 Extreme fear — capitulation conditions. Historically a zone where downside was already largely priced.
- 25–44 Fear — risk appetite is suppressed but the market is not panicking.
- 45–55 Neutral — no directional information worth acting on.
- 56–74 Greed — risk appetite building, leverage typically expanding with it.
- 75–100 Extreme greed — crowded conditions. Corrections have often started from here.
The single most useful habit is to watch the transition rather than the level. A move out of extreme fear back through 25 has historically been more informative than any amount of time spent sitting at 12.
What goes into the number
The index is published by alternative.me and combines five weighted inputs:
- Volatility (25%) — current volatility and maximum drawdown against 30- and 90-day averages. Unusual volatility reads as fear.
- Market momentum and volume (25%) — current volume and momentum against their 30- and 90-day averages. High buying volume in a rising market reads as greed.
- Social media (15%) — interaction rates on crypto-related posts. Unusually high engagement reads as greed.
- Bitcoin dominance (10%) — rising dominance is treated as a flight to safety, and therefore as fear. You can watch this component directly on our BTC.D dashboard.
- Google Trends (10%) — search volumes for Bitcoin-related queries, weighted by whether the query implies panic.
We display the published series unmodified and add the historical bands to the chart. A survey component that once carried 15% is no longer collected, so the remaining inputs are reweighted.
Limitations
It is a sentiment composite, so it lags: several of its inputs are themselves 30- and 90-day comparisons. It is also Bitcoin-centric, which means it will not capture a rotation happening entirely inside altcoins. And it is a single vendor's methodology — useful precisely because it is consistent, but not an objective measure of anything.
Frequently asked questions
What is the Crypto Fear and Greed Index?
A 0–100 sentiment gauge published daily by alternative.me. Zero is extreme fear, 100 is extreme greed. It blends volatility, market momentum and volume, social media activity, Bitcoin dominance and Google Trends data into one number, so it measures the mood around the market rather than the market itself.
What does extreme fear mean?
A reading of 0–24 means the inputs are all pointing the same way: volatility is elevated, momentum is negative, searches are panicked. Historically these readings have clustered near local lows, on the logic that when everyone who wanted to sell has sold, there is little supply left. That is a tendency, not a rule — extreme fear persisted for weeks at a time during 2018 and 2022 while price kept falling.
What does extreme greed mean?
A reading of 75–100 means momentum, volume and social interest are all running hot. It has often preceded corrections, because it usually coincides with crowded leveraged positioning. Cross-check it with funding rates and the liquidation heatmap — greed plus expensive funding plus a dense cluster of longs below spot is a much stronger signal than greed on its own.
How often does the index update?
Once per day. The value shown here is the most recent published reading, and the chart holds the full daily history back to February 2018.
Can I trade using the Fear and Greed Index alone?
No, and the people who publish it say the same. It is a context tool with no timing component: it tells you the emotional temperature of the market, not when that temperature will change. Sentiment can stay extreme for a very long time.