Crypto market sentiment has flipped in less than two weeks. The Crypto Fear & Greed Index rose to 74 on Tuesday, a sharp turn from 27 on Aug. 12, before slipping to 65 on Wednesday.
Blockcast said the gauge had stayed under a cloud of fear from late July through Aug. 19. On Aug. 6, it dropped to 25, putting it in extreme fear territory. The index measures market sentiment on a scale from 0 to 100. Its methodology gives the greatest weight to Bitcoin price volatility and trading momentum, while also factoring in social media activity, Bitcoin market share and Google search interest. Any reading above 50 is classified as greed.
The index, however, is designed to capture traders’ current behavior rather than predict where the market goes next.
A past reading at similar levels came before a $19 billion liquidation day
According to the report, the last time the index reached a comparable level was on Oct. 5, 2025. Five days later, the crypto market was hit by a large-scale liquidation event, with $19 billion in leveraged positions forcibly closed in a single day.
Bitcoin, majors and meme coins all moved higher
The reversal in sentiment has come with a strong market rally. Bitcoin climbed from below $68,000 last week to near the $80,000 mark, while some major tokens posted gains of as much as 70%.
Blockcast said speculative money had largely focused on AI, memory and semiconductor stocks over the past few months. That flow is now gradually returning to what it described as the “debasement trade,” a bet that weaker dollar purchasing power and looser liquidity could lift assets such as gold and Bitcoin.
Smaller tokens have moved even more sharply. DOGE gained about 24% over the past week. Among lower-cap meme coins, Thinking Cat surged 131% in a week, Cash Cat rose 113%, and Dog (Bitcoin) nearly doubled.
The report said that when money rotates into thinly traded, less liquid tokens of this kind, it is often taken as a strong sign that risk appetite is rising again. At the same time, it can also indicate overheated sentiment and a higher risk of a pullback.
Friday’s Jackson Hole speech is the next test
The market’s next focal point is Friday, when Federal Reserve Chair Kevin Warsh is scheduled to deliver his first featured speech since taking office at the Jackson Hole global central banking symposium.
After several weeks of sharp swings in long-dated Treasury yields, traders are looking to the event for clues on the path of rates and inflation policy. Blockcast added that the recent pullback in U.S. Treasury yields helped set off Bitcoin’s advance from below $68,000.
The question now is whether this crypto rally, driven by liquidity expectations and stronger risk appetite, will get confirmation from the Fed’s policy signals.