What is the Fear and Greed Index?
The Fear and Greed Index, published by CNN, rates investor mood on a scale from 0 to 100, where low means fearful and high means greedy. It combines seven market signals, such as price momentum, volatility, and demand for safe assets.
How it is built
It gives equal weight to seven signals: stock price momentum, the number of stocks at yearly highs versus lows, trading volume in rising versus falling stocks, options activity, market volatility, demand for safe bonds versus stocks, and demand for riskier junk bonds.
Reading the scale
Below 25 is extreme fear, 25 to 44 is fear, 45 to 55 is neutral, 56 to 75 is greed, and above 75 is extreme greed.
Limits
It measures mood over days and weeks, not whether stocks are cheap or expensive. Moods swing quickly, and markets can stay fearful or greedy for a long time. Some investors treat extreme readings as a reason to do the opposite of the crowd, but the index itself does not predict prices.
Frequently asked questions
Who publishes the Fear and Greed Index?
CNN Business publishes it and updates it during each trading day.
Is extreme fear a signal to buy?
Not on its own. It describes current mood, not whether stocks are cheap or what happens next.