Crypto Fear and Greed Index

Current reading

Live reading for November 15, 2026

10
Extreme Fear
out of 100
0255075100
Last 30 days
0255075100Oct 17Nov 15
7-day average
23
30-day average
39.7
90-day average
57.4
How to read the scale
  • 0-25 — Extreme Fear
  • 26-46 — Fear
  • 47-54 — Neutral
  • 55-75 — Greed
  • 76-100 — Extreme Greed

Data source: Alternative.me Crypto Fear and Greed Index. Reading as of November 15, 2026 UTC. This page refreshes automatically as the index updates daily.

The Crypto Fear and Greed Index measures how the crypto market is feeling right now, on a scale from 0 to 100. The reading above is the live value, updated daily, with the last 30 days plotted underneath it. Use it as a temperature check on sentiment, not as a signal to buy or sell.

What the Crypto Fear and Greed Index measures

The index is a composite of five inputs: how volatile the price of Bitcoin has been, how strong market momentum and volume are, how much search interest there is in Bitcoin and cryptocurrency terms, Bitcoin’s share of total crypto market capitalisation, and the trend in that search interest over the preceding 30 days. It is published by Alternative.me, which is the source of every number on this page.

Because four of the five inputs are backward-looking and one is a search-trend measure, the index tends to move in steps rather than in a straight line, and it can stay pinned at an extreme for weeks. A reading of 5 is not a prediction of a crash. It is a description of conditions that have already been uncomfortable for a while.

How to read the scale

Five bands, and they are wide apart. The boundaries below are the ones the source itself applies, taken from 3,188 consecutive daily readings from February 2018 onward.

  • 0-25 — Extreme Fear. The market is pricing in severe stress. Historically, 739 of 3,188 days, or 23 percent, sat in this band. Sellers are often exhausted by this point.
  • 26-46 — Fear. Uncertainty and caution. Fear and extreme fear together account for 51.7 percent of all days on record, so the market spends most of its time on this side of the scale.
  • 47-54 — Neutral. A narrow band of eight points, and the least common of the five. The market is genuinely undecided here, which is why neutral readings tend to resolve in a hurry.
  • 55-75 — Greed. Prices are bid and confidence is high. The second most common band on record, covering 849 days.
  • 76-100 — Extreme Greed. Euphoria. This is where the market is most likely to be a poor place to add new risk, and where it has historically been most likely to be a bad moment to chase. The all-time high on the index is 95, recorded on February 17, 2021.

What the current reading means in context

A number on its own is close to meaningless. The 7-day, 30-day and 90-day averages above the chart are the context that makes it readable: they tell you whether today’s reading is a genuine shift or just noise inside a trend.

Two reference points worth holding. The index has only ever printed as low as 5, on February 23, 2026, and as high as 95, on February 17, 2021. Over the 90 days to date the range has been 25 to 78, which is a wide spread for a sentiment gauge and a reminder that this market moves between emotional extremes in a matter of weeks.

How this page is refreshed, and what it is not. The reading, the chart and the averages are pulled directly from the Alternative.me API each time the page is served, with a one-hour server-side cache, and the browser refreshes the number live from the same source. Nothing on this page is hand-written to make the market look a particular way, and the figures will change whether or not anyone is reading them.

Frequently asked questions

Is a low Fear and Greed reading a buy signal?

Not on its own. Extreme fear has coincided with some of the worst drawdowns in the index’s history, and it has also been a reasonable place to accumulate for anyone with a multi-year horizon. The index tells you how the market is priced, not what it will do next. The same caution applies at the other end of the scale.

How often does the index update?

Once a day. The value on this page is a daily reading, so a value that looks unchanged from yesterday may simply not have been updated yet today.

What is the difference between this and the VIX?

The VIX is an implied-volatility price derived from options on the S&P 500, and it measures expected movement, not sentiment. The Fear and Greed Index is a composite of realised volatility, momentum, volume, search interest and market-cap dominance, and it measures mood. They are not substitutes for each other, and they do not move together.

Who else uses this index?

It is widely quoted in crypto market commentary, which is worth knowing about when a reading is reported: the same number tends to appear in more coverage when it is extreme, because a reading of 51 does not make a headline. A calm reading and a dramatic one are not equally likely to be reported to you.

Related tool: working out what a regular monthly allocation would have bought? Use the Bitcoin DCA Calculator to set an amount and frequency and see your average entry price and projected holdings.

Disclaimer: this page is for educational purposes only. The Crypto Fear and Greed Index is provided by Alternative.me and is republished here for reference. Nothing on this site is financial advice. Do your own research before making any investment decision.