Crypto Fear and Greed Index Shows 'Extreme Fear' and Shaky Sentiment Persist

For a few weeks now, bitcoin sentiment stemming from the Crypto Fear and Greed Index (CFGI) has been in the “extreme fear” range. While bitcoin gathered some gains on Monday, the CFGI is still in the “extreme fear” position with a ranking score of 16 out of 100.

Crypto Fear and Greed Index Remains in ‘Extreme Fear’
Approximately 45 days ago, the Crypto Fear and Greed Index (CFGI) hit the “extreme fear” range with a score of 22. That day, on April 15, the 24-hour bitcoin price range was between $39,823.77 and $40,709.11 per unit. Since then markets tumbled even lower and on May 12, the value of BTC tapped a low at $25,401, which was lower than the previous bottom last summer in July. If someone purchased BTC on May 12, today they would be up more than 24% against the U.S. dollar.

Crypto Fear and Greed Index Shows 'Extreme Fear' and Shaky Sentiment Persist

Despite the gains during the past two weeks, the CFGI is still in the “extreme fear” zone and the ranking is even lower than it was on April 15. At the time of writing, the CFGI ranking score is 16 out of 100, but it doesn’t necessarily mean markets will remain gloomy. The CFGI hosted on alternative.me measures market sentiment and the website notes there are two simple assumptions:

Extreme fear can be a sign that investors are too worried. That could be a buying opportunity.
When Investors are getting too greedy, that means the market is due for a correction.
However, extreme fear can also lead to more capitulation and the so-called buying opportunity may be much lower. Or one could also assume the current time frame is a tiered buying opportunity and people are happy with purchasing BTC on the way down. The CFGI’s simple assumptions are just that, as they may be accepted as truths, but they may not end up coming to fruition.

On the same token, if “investors are getting too greedy,” as the CFGI says, it doesn’t necessarily mean crypto markets will correct. This means if someone took such advice they could be selling BTC at a lower point than what they could have made by waiting. Then again, there’s always the age-old investment advice that says there’s nothing wrong with taking profits along the way.

Crypto market sentiment, at least according to the CFGI, has been in the “extreme fear” region for well over a month. Yesterday, on May 30, the index tapped a ranking score of 10, which means the latest CFGI score of 16 is an improvement. Google Trends metrics for the query “bitcoin” show interest has ticked up from the recent Terra fiasco.

Interestingly, Google Trends (GT) data worldwide indicates that interest in bitcoin was meandering for a while before the Terra LUNA and UST fallout. But during that specific week (May 8-14), GT data shows the search term “bitcoin” skyrocketed to the highest GT score (100) since the second week of June 2021. The week after the Terra LUNA and UST market carnage, however, the GT data score for the term “bitcoin” dropped by 45%.