Crypto Fear & Greed Index: the contrarian gauge
The Crypto Fear & Greed Index (alternative.me) condenses volatility, volume, social activity, dominance and trends into a 0 to 100 mood score. 25 and below is extreme fear, 75 and above extreme greed, 50 neutral. It is used contrarian: fear is where paper bids get practised, greed where offers do. The index can stay in one zone for weeks.
How the score is built
The published index blends volatility (25%), market momentum and volume (25%), social media (15%), Bitcoin dominance (10%) and Google Trends (10%), with a survey component. It updates daily and describes the whole market, not one coin.
Contrarian, with patience
Extreme fear has marked most of the best multi-week entries and extreme greed most of the tops, but never on the day. The index is slow. It tells you what kind of market you are in, so you can decide whether to lean on bids or offers when the faster indicators line up.
How the SIMMENT desk uses it
The home screen shows the live value. In the engine, extreme fear or greed adds up to 15 confidence points and the setup filter adds two contrarian votes at the extremes, one in the fear or greed zones. It also decides whether a bullish trend reads as a strong_buy (with fear) or a weak_buy (with greed).
Quick answers
Should I buy when Fear & Greed is under 25?
On a paper desk it is the moment to practise bids with a plan, because such readings can persist. The index is a regime label, not a timing signal.
This metric is a tile on the SIMMENT paper desk. Open a free account, get 10,000 virtual USDT and watch it on live Binance prices. Enter the desk → · iOS app
Educational content. Simulated trading only. Not financial advice. Updated 2026-09-06.