The Crypto Fear & Greed Index sank to 11 on Monday, deep in “extreme fear” and marking its weakest sentiment reading since late 2022 as market stress continues to escalate.
Bitcoin’s severe November downturn accelerated on Friday, breaking below $85,000 for the first time since April. A cascade of leveraged liquidations and fast-deteriorating sentiment has turned the month into bitcoin’s sharpest decline since the 2022 crypto winter. The price briefly hit $81,600 before recovering to around $84,000, wiping out all year-to-date gains and dragging the market back to pre-ETF-launch levels.
The sell-off has spread across the crypto complex. Ether slipped under $2,750, leaving it down nearly 14% over the week. Solana plunged more than 10% in a day, while XRP, BNB and Cardano posted losses between 8% and 15%. Major assets have now fallen 20–35% from their November peaks, with smaller altcoins suffering even deeper retracements.
Liquidation data underscores the scale of the downturn. More than $2 billion worth of leveraged positions were wiped out over the past 24 hours, according to CoinGlass. Bitcoin accounted for $964 million, ether for $407 million and altcoins for the remainder. Roughly 396,000 traders were liquidated, including a single $36.7 million BTC position on Hyperliquid — the day’s largest.
Broader financial markets have offered little relief. Global equities just recorded their worst week in seven months amid rising doubts about extended AI-driven valuations and fading expectations of a December Federal Reserve rate cut. The MSCI All Country World Index is down more than 3% on the week, U.S. tech stocks remain under pressure and Treasuries are attracting safety flows.
Crypto market structure is weakening as well. U.S.-listed bitcoin ETFs saw over $900 million in outflows on Thursday — their second-largest daily withdrawal since launching in early 2024. Perpetual futures open interest has tumbled 35% from October’s $94 billion peak, draining market depth and contributing to increased volatility.
Sentiment among retail investors has deteriorated rapidly. With the Fear & Greed Index collapsing to 11, anxiety has reached the most extreme levels seen in nearly two years. Historically, such lows have often preceded major turning points, but with bitcoin losing multimonth support and institutional flows reversing, the market has yet to show any convincing signs of stabilization.
