Cryptocurrency Fear and Greed Index drops to 24, $120 billion evaporates, triggering extreme panic

January 21 News, the cryptocurrency market’s sentiment sharply turned sour under strong selling pressure, with the Cryptocurrency Fear and Greed Index falling to 24, officially entering the “Extreme Fear” zone. This change occurred after a brief rebound to the “Greed” zone last week, indicating that investor confidence has been severely shaken again in early 2026.

This emotional collapse is closely related to global macro risks. Recently, Trump reiterated threats of tariffs on the European Union, and US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent also confirmed at the Davos Forum that tariffs will continue to be used as a geopolitical tool, triggering a collective correction in global risk assets. As a result, Bitcoin briefly fell below $90,000 and dipped into the $88,000 range, while Ethereum also lost the $3,000 mark. The total market capitalization of cryptocurrencies evaporated over $120 billion within 24 hours.

The volatility in the derivatives market has also been intense. Over the past day, more than 182,000 traders faced forced liquidations, with total liquidations reaching $1.08 billion, including nearly $990 million in long positions, indicating that leveraged funds are being rapidly wiped out during the decline.

Market sentiment deterioration is also reflected across social and data layers. The Fear and Greed Index combines multiple indicators such as price volatility, trading volume, market momentum, social media activity, Bitcoin market share, and Google Trends, now fully pointing to a risk-averse mindset.

Analyst Rex pointed out on X that investor interest in crypto assets has shifted from panic to indifference, with some long-term participants even transferring funds to stocks and commodities. This suggests a loss of confidence rather than a short-term correction. Meanwhile, another analyst, Doc, believes that although the sentiment may be worse than during the FTX collapse, Bitcoin still has significant asymmetric return potential. Once it bottoms out and rebounds, it could remain one of the most attractive risk assets in the capital markets.

Before geopolitical and macro policy directions become clearer, cryptocurrency market volatility is expected to remain high, and panic sentiment may continue to dominate short-term trading behavior.