Crypto sentiment has pushed into extreme greed
The Crypto Fear and Greed Index, tracked by CoinMarketCap, climbed to 81 late Sunday and is still there today. That puts the market back into “extreme greed” for the first time since late 2024, crossing the 80 level that the index uses as its threshold for the green zone.
For most of the past year, the gauge sat in “fear,” with only brief stops in neutral. The move has been unusually fast. A month ago, the index was at 36. A week ago, it was 41. The latest print leaves it 45 points higher in 30 days and nearly wipes out the caution that shaped the first half of 2026.
CoinMarketCap says it is the first straight jump from extreme fear to extreme greed
The article says this is the fastest shift between the two extremes and the only move from extreme fear to extreme greed since CoinMarketCap began tracking the index. Alternative.me, which has followed sentiment for a longer period, still has the market in “greed,” but not extreme greed, with the reading about 6% below that level.
Even with the different methodology, both gauges point in the same direction: traders have turned sharply more bullish. The piece compares the speed of the move with a similar shift seen in 2021.
The index bottomed at 5 on Feb. 5
On Feb. 5, the index hit 5, its lowest point of the year and a deep extreme-fear reading. From that low to this week’s 81, the market has moved from capitulation to greed in less than six months.
The sentiment swing has come with a Bitcoin-led rally. Bitcoin gained roughly 24% in a week, while the broader crypto market rose by less. The gap showed up in Bitcoin’s growing share of total crypto market value.
Treasury buybacks, a dollar move and short liquidations came first
The article traces the breakout to last Wednesday, when the U.S. Treasury said it would double its long-bond buybacks from $2 billion to $4 billion per operation starting Sept. 9. The report describes the buybacks as purchases of the government’s own debt meant to support demand. That move weakened the dollar and nudged some investors toward Bitcoin as an inflation hedge.
Bearish traders were then forced to cover. As Bitcoin pushed above $70,000, more than $4 billion in crypto shorts were liquidated over two to three days. Bitcoin ETFs logged their biggest single day of inflows since May, and Bitcoin and Ethereum ETFs together took in about $2.3 billion in assets.
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