Share this article
'Extreme Fear' Grips Bitcoin Market After Price Plunge, Sentiment Gauge Shows
The drop in market sentiment follows the past week's bitcoin price plunge, according to Arcane Research.
Updated Sep 14, 2021, 12:57 p.m. Published May 18, 2021, 5:35 p.m.
The Crypto Fear and Greed Index, a metric that measures the current sentiment in the bitcoin market, has fallen to "extreme fear" levels not seen since April 2020, a report Tuesday showed.
STORY CONTINUES BELOW
Don't miss another story.Subscribe to the Crypto Daybook Americas Newsletter today. See all newsletters
The drop in market sentiment follows the past week's plunge in the bitcoin (BTC) price to about $43,200, down from last month's record near $65,000.
The Crypto Fear and Greed Index is now at 21, down from a "greedy" level of 73 just last week, according to the report from hosting site Alternative and quoted by Arcane Research, a Norwegian analysis firm.
"The past week has been filled with fear, uncertainty and doubt, and the bitcoin price has crashed down," the Arcane analysts wrote. "In the past, an extremely fearful market like this has historically presented solid buying opportunities during bull cycles."
Other market indicators are reflecting that fear, according to Arcane:
- The so-called "Grayscale discount" has widened to a record 25%. This is the difference between the price of bitcoin, as implied by the trading level of Grayscale Bitcoin Trust shares, and the spot-market price. "If the discount becomes of sufficient size, this could post a short-term risk for bitcoin," according to Arcane. (Grayscale is a CoinDesk sister company.)
- Funding rates in the market for bitcoin derivatives turned negative. The funding rates fell below 0% on two separate occasions over the past week – during the May 12 sell-off, and again on Monday as the market reacted to Tesla CEO Elon Musk's latest comments on the cryptocurrency. "As the market headed downwards yesterday, $1 billion worth of longs got liquidated as the market turned sour." By Tuesday, according to the report, the funding rate had returned to neutral territory, according to the report.
- Short-term price volatility has climbed to the highest level since February. The 30-day volatility is now at 4.5%, indicating that the bitcoin price has been moving 4.5% every day over the past month, on average.
Read more: Crypto Exchanges See Fastest Bitcoin Inflows Since ‘Black Thursday’ in March 2020
More For You
What to know:
- As of October 2025, GoPlus has generated $4.7M in total revenue across its product lines. The GoPlus App is the primary revenue driver, contributing $2.5M (approx. 53%), followed by the SafeToken Protocol at $1.7M.
- GoPlus Intelligence's Token Security API averaged 717 million monthly calls year-to-date in 2025 , with a peak of nearly 1 billion calls in February 2025. Total blockchain-level requests, including transaction simulations, averaged an additional 350 million per month.
- Since its January 2025 launch , the $GPS token has registered over $5B in total spot volume and $10B in derivatives volume in 2025. Monthly spot volume peaked in March 2025 at over $1.1B , while derivatives volume peaked the same month at over $4B.
More For You
Bitcoin slides to $86,000 as slower rate cut risk, AI stock woes shake markets
Crypto-related stocks suffered far deeper declines as bitcoin slumped well below its recent trading range.
What to know:
- Bitcoin and major altcoins fell further throughout U.S. trading hours as macro uncertainty continued to pressure risk assets.
- Many crypto-related stocks, including leaders Coinbase and Strategy, posted deeper slumps than crypto itself.
- Wintermute's Jasper De Maere suggested the decline is and should remain orderly.
Top Stories
