Fear And Greed Index At 18 Signals A Sharp Risk-Off Turn

At 18 points, the Crypto Fear and Greed Index marks the return of the crypto market to extreme fear zone. After a failed rebound, this new stress episode reflects a heavier atmosphere, fueled by geopolitical tensions and macroeconomic doubts. Behind this sentiment indicator, another observation emerges: distrust now overflows onto altcoins, trading volumes, and social signals.

The sentiment barometer plunges again under macroeconomic pressure

The Crypto Fear and Greed Index falls back into extreme fear zone, a sign of a sudden surge in nervousness in the crypto market. Indeed, the index shows 18, down from 20 on Friday and 25 on Wednesday. This rapid drop thus wipes out the midweek rebound and reflects a strong return of risk aversion among crypto investors.

Such deterioration is linked to the persistence of tensions between the United States, Israel, and Iran, which weigh on risk appetite, while fueling macroeconomic uncertainty. Moreover, it is worth noting that the index had already hit an annual low of 5 in February, in a market context degraded by several factors, including uncertainty around interest rate policy, liquidity levels, and the rise in US public debt.

• The index is at 18 ;
• It was at 20 on Friday ;
• It briefly rebounded to 25 on Wednesday ;
• The level of 18 corresponds to a return to extreme fear.

Altcoins, volumes, and social indicators confirm the loss of confidence

CryptoQuant analyst Darkfost specifies that “38 % of altcoins are trading near their all-time lows”, a situation considered more severe than that observed after the FTX collapse. He also indicates that this price drop was accompanied by “about a 50 % drop in trading volumes in the crypto market”.

Darkfost summarizes this dynamic with a clear sentence : “altcoins remain the last segment of the crypto market usually capturing liquidity flows. Under these conditions, the situation is unsurprising, given the geopolitical and macroeconomic deterioration observed over recent months”.

Two additional markers of this distrust are also observed. According to Santiment, mentions of altcoins on social networks have fallen to their lowest level in two years. At the same time, global Google searches for “Bitcoin going to zero” reached their highest level since 2022 in February 2026, according to Google Trends. These elements no longer describe just a worried market. They show a decline in attention, liquidity, and confidence on multiple fronts simultaneously.

The return of extreme fear is no longer a simple psychological signal. Between the contraction of volumes, the erosion of confidence, and 38% of altcoins in critical zone according to CryptoQuant, the crypto market shows persistent fragility in a climate still dominated by uncertainty.