Fear & Greed Index

How the Fear & Greed Index works

Short answer: The Crypto Fear & Greed Index is a 0–100 sentiment score for Bitcoin and the crypto market, published once a day by alternative.me. It blends volatility, momentum and volume, social media, Bitcoin dominance and search trends. Readings below 25 sit in extreme fear and above 75 in extreme greed; the score describes crowd mood, not where price goes next.

Shows today's Crypto Fear & Greed Index from alternative.me, its classification label and the last 8 daily readings as a mini chart. It is for investors and traders who want a quick read on market mood before reviewing a plan, and it offers an optional email alert when the index enters an extreme zone.

What you enter

• None; the page loads the latest reading from alternative.me through the site's cached proxy (cache about 10 minutes).
• The proxy requests the last 8 daily values, which the page shows as the 7-day history (today plus the 7 days before).
• Optional: an email address for the extreme-zone alert (double opt-in).

What it shows

• Today's value from 0 to 100 in large type, with the source's label (Extreme Fear, Fear, Neutral, Greed or Extreme Greed) in the page language
• A gradient bar from blue (fear) to red (greed) with a marker at the value's position
• 8 daily bars, oldest on the left, each showing its value and colored by the page's bands
• Colors: below 25 blue, 25–44 green, 45–54 yellow, 55–74 orange, 75 and above red

How to use it

1. Open the page and wait for the reading to load.
2. Read today's number and label, and note its color band.
3. Scan the 8 daily bars from left to right to see whether sentiment is rising, falling or flat.
4. Compare today's reading with your own plan, position size and other indicators before acting.
5. If you want a notice when the index turns extreme, enter your email in the alert box and confirm the link sent to you.

Formula

The page does not compute the index; it displays alternative.me's value. alternative.me's published weights: volatility 25%, market momentum and volume 25%, social media 15%, surveys 15% (paused), Bitcoin dominance 10%, search trends 10%. Page color bands: value < 25 blue; 25 ≤ value < 45 green; 45 ≤ value < 55 yellow; 55 ≤ value < 75 orange; value ≥ 75 red. Marker position = value % of the bar width. Email alert zones, checked once a day: value < 25 = extreme fear, value > 75 = extreme greed; one email when the zone is entered, none while it stays there.

Worked example

Hypothetical 8-day series, oldest to newest: 52, 48, 41, 35, 30, 27, 24, 22. Today's 22 is below 25, so it is colored blue and the marker sits 22% along the bar. Sentiment fell 52 − 22 = 30 points in a week. The daily alert check first sees a value below 25 on the day of 24; if the previous alert zone was neutral, subscribers get one extreme-fear email that day and no repeat email on the day of 22.

How to read the result

• Below 25: the crowd is fearful. Such readings have historically clustered around sharp sell-offs and capitulation phases, but they have also lasted for weeks in bear markets.
• 25 to 54: fear to neutral. In this middle range the direction over the 8 bars usually says more than the single number.
• 55 and above: greed. Readings above 75 have historically coincided with euphoric rallies and a higher risk of sharp pullbacks.
• A move out of an extreme zone toward neutral carries different information from a reading that has stayed flat for a week.

Limits and cautions

• It is a single-source, Bitcoin-centric index updated once a day; it does not react to intraday moves.
• The label comes from alternative.me while the colors come from this page's own bands, so near a boundary the label and color can disagree.
• The components and weights are set by alternative.me and can change; surveys are listed in the method but have been paused.
• Extreme readings are not timing signals; extreme fear persisted for long stretches in past bear markets.

Key terms

Crypto Fear & Greed Index

A 0–100 daily sentiment score for Bitcoin and the wider crypto market published by alternative.me. Low values mean the crowd is fearful, high values mean it is greedy; it describes mood, not future price.

Extreme Fear

A reading below 25. Such values have historically clustered around sharp sell-offs and capitulation, but they have also persisted for weeks in bear markets.

Extreme Greed

A reading above 75. Such values have historically coincided with euphoric rallies and a higher risk of sharp pullbacks.

Index components

alternative.me combines volatility (25%), market momentum and volume (25%), social media (15%), surveys (15%, paused), Bitcoin dominance (10%) and search trends (10%) into the daily score.

Sentiment indicator

A measure of how market participants feel rather than of price or fundamentals; it is usually read alongside price, positioning and a trading plan, not on its own.

Common questions

What is a good fear and greed index to buy?

No reading is a buy signal by itself. Values below 25 have historically appeared near market lows but also during long declines, so many investors use them as a prompt to review their plan and position size rather than as a trigger.

How is the crypto Fear and Greed Index calculated?

alternative.me combines volatility (25%), market momentum and volume (25%), social media (15%), surveys (15%, currently paused), Bitcoin dominance (10%) and search trends (10%) into a 0–100 score. This page shows that score as published.

How often is the Fear and Greed Index updated?

alternative.me publishes one value per day. The page caches it for about 10 minutes and shows the latest 8 daily values as its history.

Is the crypto Fear and Greed Index the same as CNN's?

No. CNN's Fear & Greed Index tracks the US stock market with seven market indicators; this page shows alternative.me's crypto index, which is built around Bitcoin.

Sources and update cadence

• alternative.me — Crypto Fear & Greed Index — today's value, history and the published component weights
• alternative.me — Fear & Greed Index API (fng endpoint) — JSON feed of daily values with classification and timestamp; this page's data source

Further reading on this site

• How to Use the Bitcoin Fear & Greed Index: Thresholds, Limits and Confirmation Signals
• Using the Fear & Greed Index: Contrarian Playbook and 3 Big Mistakes
• Bull-Bear Cycle Psychology: Why Retail Buys Tops and Sells Bottoms
• The Single-Indicator Trap: Why Every "Holy Grail" Eventually Fails — and the Math of Fusion

Last reviewed: 2026-10-25