The Crypto Fear and Greed Index, a leading barometer of investor sentiment in digital assets, has fallen back into ‘extreme fear’ after a short midweek recovery.
At the time of reporting the index read 18, down from 20 on Friday, according to CoinMarketCap. On that scale 20 is classed as ‘fear’ and lower numbers signal deteriorating sentiment. The gauge briefly climbed to 25 on Wednesday before reversing as geopolitical tensions involving the US, Israel and Iran weighed on risk appetite and injected fresh macroeconomic uncertainty.
Earlier in February the index reached a yearly low of 5 amid a broader market pullback driven by geopolitical shocks and macro worries such as interest rate uncertainty, liquidity strains and rising US government debt.
Crypto markets have remained in a bear phase since the October 2025 crash, which cut Bitcoin by more than 50% from its all-time high. Bitcoin later mounted a limited rebound, but hundreds of billions of dollars were wiped out across the altcoin market.
Altcoins have fared worst. CryptoQuant analyst Darkfost observed that about 38% of altcoins are trading at or near all-time lows, a depth of weakness that he says is worse than the post-FTX period. He also pointed to roughly a 50% decline in crypto trading volume accompanying the price drops. Since altcoins typically attract a large share of market liquidity, their deterioration is notable amid the current geopolitical and macro headwinds.
Social and search metrics mirror the pullback: mentions of altcoins on social platforms fell to their lowest level in two years, according to Santiment, and global Google searches for the phrase ‘Bitcoin going to zero’ reached their highest point since 2022 in February 2026, highlighting low investor confidence across multiple indicators.
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