Crypto Fear and Greed Index

Daily index values from the alternative.me Crypto Fear & Greed Index.

Index insights (last 12 months)

What history shows (last 12 months)

For every day in the past year, this checks where Bitcoin's price was 30 days later. It only describes what already happened. It is not a prediction and not advice.

Bitcoin is used as the market proxy. Past patterns do not repeat reliably, and a small number of days can skew these figures.

What the score means

About the Crypto Fear & Greed Index

The Crypto Fear and Greed Index turns the mood of the market into one easy number between 0 and 100. When the score is low, traders are nervous and selling. When it is high, traders are excited and buying. The idea is simple. People often act on emotion, and that emotion can push prices too far in either direction.

The score on this page comes from the public alternative.me index, which is updated once a day. You can see today's reading on the dial, compare it with last week and last month, and follow the trend on the history chart.

How the score is built

The index blends several market signals into a single value. In plain terms, it looks at things like:

• Price swings, comparing recent volatility with the calmer average.
• Market momentum and trading volume, to see if buying is strong or weak.
• Social media activity and how much people are talking about crypto.
• The share of the market held by Bitcoin.
• Search interest, based on what people are looking up online.

How people read it

Many traders treat the index as a contrarian check. The thinking goes that extreme fear can mean a coin has been sold off harder than the news deserves, while extreme greed can mean the crowd is getting carried away and a pullback may follow. This is only a way of reading sentiment. It is not a signal, a prediction, or a promise about where prices go next.

A note on using it well

One day's number tells you little on its own. The trend over weeks is usually more useful than a single reading. Use the index as one input among many, alongside your own research, and never as the only reason to buy or sell.

How fear and greed move the market

Prices are set by people, and people are emotional. When the news is bad and charts are red, fear spreads. Holders sell to avoid more pain, which pushes prices down further and feeds the fear. When prices climb fast, the opposite happens. People worry about missing out, they buy in a hurry, and that greed can lift prices well past what the fundamentals support.

The index puts a number on this mood. It will not tell you what a coin is worth, and it cannot see the future. What it can do is show you, at a glance, whether the crowd is calm, panicked, or excited, so you can weigh your own decisions against the wider mood instead of being swept along by it.

Fear and greed across a market cycle

Markets tend to move in cycles. Quiet, fearful periods often follow a sharp fall, when interest fades and prices drift. As confidence returns, the mood warms and buying picks up. Near a top, greed takes over and excitement is everywhere. Then something breaks the spell, fear returns, and the cycle begins again. No two cycles are identical, and the timing is never certain, but knowing roughly where the mood sits can help you stay level-headed.

Common mistakes when using a sentiment index

Frequently Asked Questions