The Crypto Fear and Greed Index is a single-number gauge of overall market sentiment in crypto, scaled from 0 (extreme fear) to 100 (extreme greed). It's published daily by alternative.me.
How it's calculated (a weighted mix of five inputs):
- Volatility (25%) — a high 30-day price volatility reading leans toward fear
- Market momentum / volume (25%) — compares current volume to 30/90-day averages
- Social media (15%) — sentiment on crypto Twitter/X and other platforms
- Surveys (15%) — polling-based sentiment data
- Bitcoin dominance (10%) — higher BTC dominance tends to read as fear (money parking in the largest asset)
- Google Trends (10%) — search interest for "Bitcoin"
What it's used for:
- Contrarian signals. Historically, "extreme fear" readings (like during crash lows) have often coincided with price bottoms, while "extreme greed" (manic peaks) has often preceded pullbacks. It's a rough sentiment thermometer, not a timing tool.
- Risk mood. It's the same idea as equity fear/greed indices, but crypto's version swings much harder because the market is smaller and more retail-driven.
Its limitations worth knowing:
- It's reactive, not predictive — it mostly tells you how people felt after price already moved.
- The formula is public and opaque in weighting — it's a useful gut-check, not a rigorous indicator.
- It's Bitcoin-centric — it says little about sentiment in specific altcoin sectors.
So it's best treated as one context input alongside price, volume, and fundamentals — not as a buy/sell trigger by itself. (Not financial advice.)
If you'd like, I can pull current market data for a coin or check today's trending list to see where sentiment actually stands right now.