The crypto fear and greed index measures crowd behaviour

What the index actually is, and who publishes it

Alternative.me publishes the crypto fear and greed index once a day, on a scale of 0 to 100. Zero reads Extreme Fear. A hundred reads Extreme Greed. The publisher states plainly, on its own page, that the index covers Bitcoin only for now. Its own words: "the current index is for bitcoin only, because a big part of it is the volatility of the coin price" (alternative.me, read 12 September 2026). A separate index for large altcoins is not live yet.

The score comes from five weighted inputs, in the publisher's own words and weights. Volatility, 25 percent. Market momentum and volume, 25 percent. Social media, 15 percent. Surveys, 15 percent, marked currently paused on the same page. Dominance, 10 percent. Trends, 10 percent.

What each of the five inputs actually measures

Volatility measures how much Bitcoin's price is swinging. It also measures how deep the drawdowns, meaning the falls from a recent high, have run. Both are compared against the average swing of the last 30 and 90 days. A bigger swing than usual reads as fear, in the publisher's framing.

Market momentum and volume compares the day's volume and price momentum against the same 30 and 90 day averages. High buying volume alongside a rising price reads as greed.

Social media counts how fast and how often Bitcoin-related posts on X draw interaction, inside set time windows. The publisher's Reddit input is not live yet, by its own account. The separate weekly survey it once ran through strawpoll.com is marked paused on the same page.

Dominance is Bitcoin's share of the whole crypto market's total value. A rising share reads as fear of riskier altcoins, in the publisher's framing. A falling share reads as investors getting greedier about those altcoins.

Trends reads Google Trends data for Bitcoin-related searches, including which related queries are rising fastest. A spike in a fear-coded query reads as fear; the publisher's own example, on its page, is "bitcoin price manipulation".

Why the gauge and the price disagreed

Between 10 and 11 September 2026, the index fell 13 points, from 69 to 56. That is an 18.8 percent drop. Bitcoin's own price fell only 2.2 percent in the same window, from $78,283 to $76,555. Both figures come from CoinGecko's daily chart, read 12 September 2026. Between 11 and 12 September, the index rose 7 points, from 56 to 63, a 12.5 percent gain. The price rose 0.8 percent in the same window, from $76,555 to $77,204.

In percentage terms, the index swung roughly eight times harder than the price on the first move and about fifteen times harder on the second. That gap is the point of building a separate gauge at all. Search trends, social interaction counts and volume patterns can move on their own logic. They can move even when the price itself holds close to flat. The number reads the crowd's behaviour around the asset.

What the index is used for, and what it is not

Alternative.me states its own reading of what the two ends of the scale mean. At one end: "Extreme fear can be a sign that investors are too worried. That could be a buying opportunity." At the other: "When Investors are getting too greedy, that means the market is due for a correction" (alternative.me, read 12 September 2026). Those are the publisher's own stated assumptions about its own index. The page publishes no accuracy figure and no track record for either one.

That distinction matters for anyone deciding what to do with the number. A sentiment reading describes crowd behaviour on a given day. Nothing on the publisher's own page claims it forecasts what Bitcoin's price does next.

What a monthly rule does with a number like this

Qatobit's four QSI Crypto Indices are designed and rebalanced on a published methodology, once a month, on schedule. The fear and greed reading, whatever it shows on the rebalance date, plays no part in that schedule. The rebalance runs on the calendar.

The same logic holds for a Crypto SIP between rebalances. A monthly SIP of ₹25,000 executes on the same date every month, regardless of where the gauge sits that day. If the rupee price on that date is 5 percent lower than the month before, the same ₹25,000 buys about 5.3 percent more units. If the price is 5 percent higher, it buys about 4.8 percent fewer units. That arithmetic runs the same whether the gauge read 20 or 80 that morning.

What a crypto index actually holds, and how its weighting works, is covered in what a crypto index is and how it works. The cost-averaging mechanic behind the SIP arithmetic above is walked through in how a crypto SIP works. Bitcoin's own price moved on a US inflation print on 11 September 2026, the same day the gauge fell from 69 to 56. That print is covered in what US CPI data does to the rupee price of your crypto.

None of that makes the gauge useless. It is a real, dated reading of crowd behaviour, built from five stated inputs, published by one site with no hidden methodology. It simply runs on its own inputs rather than the price chart. The two moving apart, as they did between 10 and 12 September 2026, is what a separate gauge is built to do.

Frequently asked questions

What is the crypto fear and greed index?

It is a daily sentiment score for Bitcoin, on a scale of 0 to 100, published by alternative.me. It is built from five weighted inputs. Volatility and market momentum and volume each carry 25 percent; social media and surveys each carry 15 percent, with surveys currently paused; dominance and trends each carry 10 percent.

Does the fear and greed index predict Bitcoin's price?

Alternative.me states its own view: extreme fear can signal a buying opportunity, and extreme greed can signal a correction is due. The publisher gives no accuracy figure or track record for either claim. It is a stated assumption about the index's own design, unverified on the publisher's own page.

Why did the index move differently from Bitcoin's price between 10 and 12 September 2026?

Between 10 and 11 September 2026 the index fell 13 points while Bitcoin's price fell 2.2 percent. Between 11 and 12 September it rose 7 points while the price rose 0.8 percent. In percentage terms the gauge moved roughly eight to fifteen times harder than the price, because it sums several behavioural inputs beyond price alone.

Does the fear and greed index cover assets other than Bitcoin?

As of 12 September 2026, alternative.me states its published index covers Bitcoin only. A version for large altcoins is not live on the publisher's page.

Does a monthly crypto SIP need to track this index?

No. A Crypto SIP or a QSI Crypto Index rebalance executes on its scheduled date regardless of that day's fear and greed reading. The schedule decides when the transaction happens.

Crypto investments are subject to market risk. Not financial advice.