Crypto Fear & Greed Index

The crypto Fear & Greed Index is a single number from 0 to 100 that summarises the mood of the cryptocurrency market. Readings near 0 mean investors are fearful and selling; readings near 100 mean they are greedy and chasing prices. Today the CoinPulseHQ index reads 58 (Greed), CoinMarketCap’s index reads 68 and alternative.me’s reads 73. This page updates every hour.

Crypto Fear & Greed Index today

Fear & Greed Index chart, last 12 months

Hover or tap to read any day. The solid line is our index, the dashed line is CoinMarketCap’s published index for the same day. The two use different inputs, so they will not match exactly, but they should agree on direction. When they disagree sharply, the components table above usually shows why: our model reacts faster to changes in altcoin breadth and to volume spikes.

How to read the index

The index is a contrarian tool, not a timing signal. Warren Buffett’s line, be fearful when others are greedy and greedy when others are fearful, is the idea behind it. Extreme readings tell you that a lot of people already agree on the direction, which is when reversals become more likely, not when they are guaranteed.

How the CoinPulseHQ index is calculated

Most fear and greed indices publish a number without showing the working. Ours shows every component and its score for today in the table above. All inputs come from Binance daily candles in UTC, so anyone can reproduce the reading.

• Momentum, 25%. Where Bitcoin’s price sits relative to its 50-day and 200-day moving averages. Well above both averages scores high (greed); well below scores low (fear). A 20% gap to the 50-day average, or a 40% gap to the 200-day average, is treated as the extreme.
• Volatility, 20%. Bitcoin’s realised volatility over the past 30 days compared with the past 90 days. Volatility that is rising relative to its own recent history is a fear signal, because large daily swings almost always come from sell-offs. Falling volatility scores as calm, which is mildly greedy.
• Volume, 15%. Bitcoin’s 7-day average spot volume compared with its 90-day average, signed by the direction of price over the week. Heavy volume on a rising week is greed; heavy volume on a falling week is fear (capitulation).
• Market breadth, 20%. The share of the ten largest altcoins that are above their own 30-day average, blended with the share that are up over the past week. Broad participation is greed; a market carried by one or two coins is not.
• Altcoin risk appetite, 20%. The average 30-day return of the ten largest altcoins minus Bitcoin’s 30-day return. When investors move down the risk curve into altcoins, the market is greedy; when they hide in Bitcoin, it is fearful. This is the same idea as the Altcoin Season Index and Bitcoin dominance, but over a shorter window.

Each component is scored from 0 to 100 and the weighted sum is the index. The ten altcoins are the largest coins by market capitalisation on CoinMarketCap, excluding stablecoins and asset-backed tokens, that trade against USDT on Binance. The composition is refreshed daily, so the history uses the current top ten throughout; that is a limitation shared by every index of this kind.

How it differs from other Fear & Greed indices

The alternative.me index, launched in 2018, is the oldest and most quoted. It combines volatility, volume, social media activity, Bitcoin dominance and Google Trends data, with weights that are published but inputs that are not reproducible by readers. CoinMarketCap’s index, launched in 2024 after it acquired the methodology, uses price momentum, volatility, derivatives data, market composition, and proprietary CMC user behaviour. Both are useful. We show them next to ours so you can see where they agree and where they diverge, and we do not average them.

Frequently asked questions

What is the crypto Fear & Greed Index today?

The CoinPulseHQ index reads 58, which is Greed. CoinMarketCap’s index reads 68 and alternative.me’s reads 73. All three are shown above and refreshed hourly.

Is a low Fear & Greed reading a buy signal?

Not on its own. Extreme fear has often appeared near market bottoms, but it can persist for weeks while prices keep falling. Treat it as one input alongside trend, breadth and your own time horizon.

What is the difference between fear and greed in crypto?

Fear describes a market where investors sell, volatility rises and altcoins fall harder than Bitcoin. Greed describes the opposite: rising prices, broad participation and money moving into riskier coins. The index converts those behaviours into one number.

How often is the index updated?

Our components are recalculated every hour from the latest daily candles, and the full 12-month history is rebuilt once a day after the 00:00 UTC close. The CoinMarketCap and alternative.me readings are fetched hourly.

Why does the CoinPulseHQ index differ from CoinMarketCap or alternative.me?

Different inputs and weights. Ours uses only price, volume and breadth data from Binance so it can be verified; the others include social media, search trends, derivatives and proprietary user data. They usually agree on direction and disagree on level.

Where does the data come from?

Binance daily candles for Bitcoin and the ten largest altcoins, CoinMarketCap listings for the market-cap ranking, and the published CoinMarketCap and alternative.me indices for comparison.

This page is educational. A sentiment index describes market behaviour and is not investment advice. Crypto assets are volatile and you can lose money.