decrypt.co 
In brief
- The Crypto Fear and Greed Index has hit "extreme greed," the highest reading since the 2024 cycle top.
- The score jumped from 36 (fear) a month ago and 41 (neutral) a week ago, to 81 (extreme greed) in its fastest sentiment swing of the year.
- The gauge's 2026 low was 5, deep in extreme fear on February 5.
The cryptocurrency market has entered “extreme greed” territory for the first time since late 2024, according to the Crypto Fear and Greed Index.
The index, measured on Coinmarketcap, hit 81 late Sunday evening and remains there today, breaking above the green zone that starts at 80—the threshold the index reserves for panicked buying and frothy conviction. It’s a remarkable turnaround for a market that has spent the last year deep in “fear” territory, with occasional trips to “neutral” at best.
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The speed of the move is especially noteworthy. A month ago the same gauge sat at 36—squarely in "fear." A week ago it was 41, barely neutral. It printed 81 on Sunday and holds there today, a 45-point climb in 30 days that erases nearly all of the caution that defined the first half of 2026.
This is also the fastest sentiment shift between two extremes, and the only move from extreme fear to extreme greed since Coinmarketcap started tracking the index. Alternative.me has been tracking sentiment for a longer time. Its methodology still places the index in “greed” mode (not extreme by 6%), but the mood shift is consistent in the momentum: Traders are turning very bullish, extremely fast, mimicking a similar movement that happened in 2021.
The index bottomed at 5 on February 5, deep in "extreme fear," its lowest point of the year. From that floor to this week's 81 is a round trip from total capitulation to full-throated greed inside six months—the kind of arc that usually rides a violent repricing in spot markets.
The sentiment flip tracks a Bitcoin run that has left the rest of the market behind. Bitcoin gained roughly 24% in a week while the broader crypto market grew by less, a mismatch visible in Bitcoin's rising share of the total crypto market.
The breakout traces to last Wednesday, when the U.S. Treasury said it would double its long-bond buybacks — purchases of the government's own debt meant to prop up demand — from $2 billion to $4 billion per operation starting September 9, weakening the dollar and nudging investors toward bitcoin as an inflation hedge.
The same setup forced bearish traders to buy back at a loss. As Bitcoin broke $70,000, a short squeeze liquidated more than $4 billion in crypto shorts over two to three days. Bitcoin ETFs logged their biggest single day of inflows since May, and Ethereum and Bitcoin ETFs together pulled in roughly $2.3 billion in assets.
