The Crypto Fear and Greed Index hit 81 late on Aug. 24, pushing crypto sentiment into "extreme greed" for the first time since late 2024. The jump followed a 24% weekly rally in Bitcoin, a multibillion-dollar short squeeze and fresh Treasury buybacks, marking the fastest swing between sentiment extremes the gauge has recorded.
The Crypto Fear and Greed Index, measured on Coinmarketcap, hit 81 late on Aug. 24 and held there into Aug. 25, moving crypto sentiment into "extreme greed" for the first time since late 2024. The gauge stood at 36 a month earlier and 41 a week earlier — a 45-point climb in 30 days that marked the fastest sentiment shift between two extremes since Coinmarketcap began tracking the index. The index bottomed at 5 on Feb. 5, its lowest point of 2026.
Bitcoin's rally and a short squeeze drove the score
Bitcoin gained roughly 24% in a week. It briefly traded above $80,000 for the first time since May. Bitcoin then eased to near $79,000 on Aug. 25.
As the price broke through $70,000, bearish traders were forced into a short squeeze, and roughly $2.7 billion in bearish crypto positions were liquidated over 24 hours during the main breakout. Estimates covering the full two-to-three-day advance put total crypto short liquidations above $4 billion.
Treasury buybacks and ETF inflows added fuel
The rally traces 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, weakening the dollar and nudging investors toward bitcoin as an inflation hedge. Spot Bitcoin ETFs then logged their biggest single day of inflows since May. Bitcoin and Ether ETFs together pulled in roughly $2.3 billion over the rally period.
A reading that has preceded corrections before
Crypto Briefing noted that Alternative.me's gauge, which tracks sentiment separately from Coinmarketcap, has closed above 75 only twice before: 76 on Jan. 6, 2025, and 75 on Aug. 14, 2025. Both readings preceded notable corrections. Alternative.me's own reading on Aug. 25 remained in "greed" rather than extreme greed, sitting about six points below its own extreme threshold, even as Coinmarketcap's gauge held at 81.
Sources: Decrypt, crypto.news, Crypto Briefing
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