What is the Crypto Fear & Greed Index?
The Crypto Fear & Greed Index turns market sentiment into one number from 0 to 100. What goes into it, what each zone means and its limits.
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The short answer
The Crypto Fear & Greed Index is a daily score from 0 to 100 that tries to capture how the crypto market feels. Low numbers mean fear: prices are falling, volatility is high and people are cautious. High numbers mean greed: prices are climbing, activity is heavy and optimism is spreading.
The most widely used version is published by alternative.me and updates once a day. Blockdeck shows it on every page and keeps a 90-day history so you can see how sentiment has moved, not just where it is today.
The five zones
0 to 24 is Extreme Fear. 25 to 44 is Fear. 45 to 55 is Neutral. 56 to 75 is Greed. 76 to 100 is Extreme Greed.
The boundaries are conventions, not natural laws. A reading of 54 and a reading of 57 describe almost the same market; the label just changes from Neutral to Greed.
What goes into the score
The index combines several measurements, mostly about Bitcoin. Volatility compares current price swings with recent averages; unusually large swings push the score toward fear. Market momentum and volume compare current trading with the last 30 and 90 days; strong buying volume pushes it toward greed.
Social media activity measures how much people are posting and engaging about crypto. Bitcoin dominance is included because money tends to rush into Bitcoin when people are nervous and spread into smaller coins when they feel confident. Search trends add a signal from what people are looking up.
Each part is scaled and weighted, then combined into the single number you see.
How people use it
Most people use the index as a mood check rather than a trading system. It is a quick way to see whether the market is calm, nervous or euphoric before reading the news or looking at charts.
It is most informative at the extremes and when it changes quickly. A jump from 30 to 70 in a week says more about a shift in mood than a steady reading of 55 for a month.
Limits to keep in mind
The index describes what has already happened; it does not forecast prices. Markets can stay fearful or greedy for weeks, and a reading of Extreme Fear can be followed by further falls.
It is also heavily based on Bitcoin. On days when smaller coins move very differently from Bitcoin, the index may not reflect what is happening to them.