The Fear and Greed Index is a 0–100 sentiment gauge that shows whether crypto and stock market investors are driven by fear or greed — and how extreme that emotion currently is.
See today's live Fear & Greed score →
The Fear and Greed Index — sometimes called the greed and fear index or simply the fear greed index — is a sentiment indicator that condenses overall market mood into a single number between 0 and 100.
A reading near 0 represents extreme fear: most investors are selling, prices are falling, and panic is widespread. A reading near 100 represents extreme greed: prices are rising sharply, most assets are up, and investors are taking on more risk than usual.
The concept was popularised for US stocks by CNN Business, which measures seven inputs including market momentum, price breadth, safe-haven demand, and put/call ratios. For crypto, the most-cited version from Alternative.me blends volatility, volume, social media activity, surveys, and Bitcoin dominance into a daily reading.
The five sentiment zones are: 0–24 Extreme Fear (widespread panic selling, historically a contrarian signal but no guarantee of a bottom); 25–49 Fear (most assets under pressure, cautious investors watch for entries); 50 Neutral (buyers and sellers balanced, often precedes a sharper move); 51–74 Greed (broad upward participation, momentum is real but discipline still matters); 75–100 Extreme Greed (market euphoria, major peaks have historically coincided with this zone).
The WalletLens live fear and greed index focuses on pure on-market data updated every three minutes: market breadth (60% weight — the percentage of the top 20 coins up over 24 hours) and price momentum (40% weight — the average 24-hour move of the top 10 coins, normalised to 0–100). This avoids social-media inputs that can be slow or easy to manipulate.
Historical readings illustrate the index's value. During the COVID-19 crash of March 2020, stock fear-and-greed scores fell near zero — followed by one of the longest bull markets on record. The 2021 crypto bull run saw the index sit above 75 (extreme greed) for weeks before the market peaked. After the FTX collapse in late 2022, readings fell below 10 — investors who accumulated at those extreme-fear levels saw significant gains in the 2023–2024 recovery.
The pattern behind these examples is mean-reversion: extreme readings tend not to last. This is the basis of the contrarian principle often associated with the index, summarised by Warren Buffett as "Be fearful when others are greedy, and greedy when others are fearful."
The index is most useful as a context layer on top of portfolio decisions, not as a standalone buy or sell signal. During extreme fear, review your allocation — are you under-positioned relative to your long-term target? During extreme greed, review your sell targets — are any assets approaching levels where you planned to take profit? In neutral conditions, focus on your DCA schedule rather than trying to time a directional move.
Compared with the RSI (relative strength index), which measures momentum for a single asset over a defined period, the fear and greed index measures breadth and sentiment across the whole market. They answer different questions: RSI tells you whether one asset is overbought or oversold; the fear and greed index tells you whether the overall market is running hot or cold.
During the March 2020 COVID crash, fear-and-greed readings fell close to zero just before a multi-year recovery; in the 2021 bull run the index sat above 75 (extreme greed) for weeks before the market peaked. A reading of 18 today would place the market firmly in extreme fear — historically an accumulation zone, though never a guaranteed bottom.
A score of 50 is neutral — buyers and sellers are balanced with no clear directional edge. It often precedes a sharper move in either direction, so it can be worth watching for a breakout.
Historically, extreme fear readings (0–24) have often preceded recoveries and have been good long-term accumulation points. However, they do not guarantee a bottom — assets can stay in extreme fear for weeks. Use the index as one data point alongside your own research. This is not financial advice.
The WalletLens live score updates every three minutes, pulling fresh price data from the top 20 coins by market cap. This makes it more responsive than daily-updated versions from other providers.
The RSI (relative strength index) measures price momentum for a single asset over a set number of periods, typically 14 days. The Fear and Greed Index measures breadth and sentiment across the whole market. They answer different questions: RSI tells you whether one coin or stock is overbought or oversold; the Fear and Greed Index tells you whether the entire market is running hot or cold.
Alternative.me's Crypto Fear & Greed Index uses seven inputs — including social media mentions, surveys, and Google Trends — updated once per day. The WalletLens version uses two purely on-market inputs (breadth and momentum), updates every three minutes, and requires no external survey data.
The live WalletLens fear and greed score is at walletlens.live/fear-and-greed-index. It also appears in the Market Index page and inside the WalletLens AI Analysis tab, overlaid against your portfolio.
WalletLens is a free, private net-worth tracker that puts concepts like this into practice — it tracks your crypto, stocks, gold and cash in one dashboard, computing cost basis, P&L and allocation automatically with live prices. No account, and your data stays on your device.
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