Crypto market sentiment has deteriorated sharply, with the Fear & Greed Index dropping to 10, a level indicating “extreme fear.” This marks a near nine-month low, representing the lowest reading since late February.
The plunge in sentiment follows a week of losses across major cryptocurrencies, led by Bitcoin’s decline to just under $96,000 in a major sell-off. For the second time this month, the cryptocurrency fell below the $100,000 mark. The index, a popular gauge of investor emotions, reflects growing unease as Bitcoin lost more than 5% over the past seven days.
Bitcoin is now trading at levels not seen since early March, following a steady decline from its all-time high of above $120,000. Over the week, the cryptocurrency has shed around 8% of its value.
Jake Kennis, Senior Research Analyst at Nansen, commented in an emailed statement, “The selloff is a confluence of profit-taking by long-term holders (LTHs), institutional outflows, macro uncertainty, and leveraged longs getting wiped out. What is clear is that the market has temporarily chosen a downward direction after a long period of consolidation and ranging.”
Several factors have contributed to the sell-off. Fading hopes of an interest rate cut from the Federal Reserve this month have weighed on the market. The CME’s FedWatch tool now places the odds of a 25 basis points cut near 50%. Similarly, prediction markets such as Kalshi and Polymarket show traders weighing similar odds.
Adding to the uncertainty, the White House announced that recent key economic indicators, including October inflation data, may not be released due to delays caused by the recently ended government shutdown. This leaves traders with less macroeconomic data to analyze.
Low liquidity further compounds the situation. The market has yet to fully recover from the major crash seen back in October, with order-book depth across major centralized exchanges remaining structurally lower since then.
Overall, the combination of macroeconomic uncertainty, diminished liquidity, and profit-taking has led to heightened fear in the crypto market, signaling a challenging environment for investors in the near term.
https://www.coindesk.com/markets/2025/11/15/crypto-market-slips-into-extreme-fear-after-bitcoin-fails-to-hold-usd100-000-level