The fear and greed index in the cryptocurrency market drops to "extreme fear" level

Crypto Fear and Greed Index – one of the most popular measures to assess investor sentiment in the cryptocurrency market – has dropped back to “extreme fear” after showing a slight recovery last Wednesday.

According to data from CoinMarketCap, this index is currently at 18, down from 20 recorded on Friday. While a level of 20 indicates “fear” and suggests caution among investors, it is still considered an improvement compared to the market sentiment at its worst. Previously, on Wednesday, the index surged to 25 but quickly declined as geopolitical tensions between the US, Israel, and Iran continued to erode risk appetite and increase macroeconomic instability in the market.

The Crypto Fear and Greed Index hits 18, signaling “extreme fear” among investors | Source: CoinMarketCap Notably, this index once hit a record low of 5 in February, when the cryptocurrency market faced multiple challenges. Factors such as geopolitical tensions, concerns over interest rate policies, declining liquidity, and rising US debt burdens have exerted significant pressure on the market.

Cryptocurrency Market Still in Downtrend

The cryptocurrency market has entered a “crypto winter” since the crash in October 2025. This event caused Bitcoin (BTC) prices to drop over 50% from its all-time high before a slight recovery. However, this decline wiped out hundreds of billions of dollars from the altcoin market, pushing many cryptocurrencies into severe recession.

Altcoins Suffer Heavy Losses Amid Market Sentiment Collapse

According to CryptoQuant analyst Darkfost, about 38% of altcoins are currently trading near their all-time lows. This situation is even more severe than after the FTX exchange collapse. Darkfost told Cointelegraph that this price decline is accompanied by a 50% drop in cryptocurrency trading volume.

38% of altcoins are at all-time lows or close to it | Source: CryptoQuant “Altcoins are usually the last segment in the crypto market where liquidity flows in. So, the current situation is not surprising, especially given the ongoing geopolitical and macroeconomic uncertainties over the past few months,” he said.

Additionally, data from the crypto market sentiment analysis platform Santiment shows that the number of mentions of altcoins on social media has fallen to its lowest level in two years. Meanwhile, Google Trends data indicates that global searches for the phrase “Bitcoin will go to 0” in February 2026 have reached their highest point since 2022. These signals further reinforce the reality that investor confidence in the market is at very low levels, consistent with other sentiment indicators.

Mr. Giáo