Fear and Greed Index
Gauge overall crypto market sentiment with a single number, helping you identify when the crowd is euphoric or panicking — and trade accordingly.
What is Fear and Greed Index?
The Fear and Greed Index is a composite sentiment indicator that scores the overall crypto market on a scale from 0 to 100. A score of 0 represents maximum fear — panic selling, capitulation, and extreme pessimism. A score of 100 represents maximum greed — euphoria, FOMO buying, and reckless overconfidence. The index is updated daily and displayed as a badge overlay on your chart.
The index is calculated from multiple data sources: market volatility (sudden drops increase fear), trading volume and momentum (strong buying pushes toward greed), social media sentiment (trending topics, post volume, engagement), surveys, and Bitcoin dominance shifts. By combining these inputs into a single reading, it provides a quick snapshot of how the broader market is feeling.
The Fear and Greed Index is fundamentally a contrarian indicator. Extreme fear often coincides with market bottoms — when the majority is selling in panic, historically it has been among the best times to buy. Extreme greed often coincides with market tops — when everyone is euphoric and expecting endless gains, the market is typically overextended. As Warren Buffett famously said: “Be fearful when others are greedy, and greedy when others are fearful.”
Key Concepts
- Extreme Fear (0-25): The market is dominated by panic and pessimism — historically, these readings often coincide with attractive buying opportunities as selling pressure nears exhaustion
- Fear (25-50): Sentiment is cautious and bearish — the market is worried but not yet in full capitulation. Price may still be declining or consolidating
- Greed (50-75): Sentiment is optimistic and bullish — the market is confident and buying activity is elevated. Uptrends tend to persist in this range, but risk is building
- Extreme Greed (75-100): The market is euphoric — FOMO is driving buying, leverage is high, and social media is overwhelmingly bullish. This is the highest-risk zone where corrections are most likely
- Contrarian Usage: The index is most useful when read against the crowd — extreme readings in either direction tend to precede reversals
- Daily Update: The index refreshes once per day, making it a macro-level tool rather than a short-term trading signal
How to Use Fear and Greed Index
- Open Chart from the sidebar and navigate to the overlay settings
- Enable the Fear and Greed Index overlay
- A badge appears on the chart displaying the current index value (0-100) with a color-coded label
- Use the index as a macro sentiment filter — extreme readings add conviction to your directional bias
- Cross-reference the index with your technical analysis to confirm whether price action aligns with or diverges from market sentiment
What to Look For
- Bullish signals: Extreme Fear readings (below 25) that coincide with a technical support level or a capitulation candle often mark excellent buying opportunities. When the index has been in the Fear zone for an extended period and begins to tick upward, it can signal that sentiment is turning and a recovery is underway. Divergence — price making a new low while the index makes a higher low — suggests the market is less fearful than the last drop and selling pressure is fading.
- Bearish signals: Extreme Greed readings (above 75) that coincide with a technical resistance level or overextended rally often precede corrections. When the index has been in Extreme Greed for multiple consecutive days, the market is at elevated risk of a sharp pullback. Divergence — price making a new high while the index makes a lower high — suggests enthusiasm is waning even as price pushes up, a classic distribution signal.
- Key patterns: The index tends to oscillate between extremes in cycles. After a period of Extreme Fear, the market typically transitions through Fear, then Greed, before reaching Extreme Greed — and then reverses. Rapid shifts from Extreme Greed to Fear (within a few days) indicate a sudden sentiment shock and often accompany flash crashes. Prolonged periods in the Fear zone (weeks) during a broader uptrend tend to coincide with the best accumulation opportunities.
- Combine with: Aggregated Liquidations to see if extreme fear is accompanied by heavy liquidation events (confirming capitulation), OI Delta to check if open interest is rising during extreme greed (indicating leverage buildup), Depth Heatmap to see if order book liquidity supports or contradicts the sentiment reading
Supported Exchanges
| Exchange | Status |
|---|---|
| All Exchanges | Supported |
The Fear and Greed Index is a market-wide metric that reflects overall crypto sentiment. It is not specific to any single exchange and is available regardless of which exchange you are charting.
Tips
- The Fear and Greed Index is most powerful at extremes — readings between 30 and 70 are less actionable. Focus on the tails of the distribution (below 20 or above 80) for high-conviction signals
- Do not use the index as a standalone trading trigger — it is a sentiment context tool that adds conviction to trades identified through technical and order flow analysis
- Extreme Fear can persist for weeks during bear markets — the index hitting 10 does not mean the bottom is in. Use it in combination with price structure and volume to time entries
- Social media sentiment is a component of the index, which means it can be temporarily skewed by narrative-driven events (regulatory FUD, exchange hacks, celebrity endorsements) that may not reflect actual market structure
- Track the index trend over time rather than reacting to a single day’s reading — a gradual shift from Fear to Greed over several weeks is more meaningful than a one-day spike