Recherche vérifiée par sources: OKX

Today's readings side by side

The CMC reading is the one most crypto news sites quoted this week: Decrypt reported on Monday that the index it tracks had fallen to 56 from an August peak of 82, and CoinMarketCap's own chart has since slipped to 55. Alternative.me's figure is the one many trading apps and bots pull by default through its free API. If you saw "neutral" on one screen and "greed" on another today, both were correct.

Why the two indexes disagree

CoinMarketCap builds its score from five parts: price momentum of the ten largest cryptocurrencies (excluding stablecoins), Volmex implied-volatility indices for Bitcoin and Ether (BVIV and EVIV, which look 30 days ahead), the put/call ratio in Bitcoin and Ether options, the stablecoin supply ratio (Bitcoin's market cap against major stablecoins), and CoinMarketCap's own data on keyword searches and user engagement.

Alternative.me measures Bitcoin only. Its weights are volatility and maximum drawdown against 30- and 90-day averages (25%), market momentum and volume (25%), social media interaction on Bitcoin hashtags (15%), surveys (15%, currently paused), Bitcoin dominance (10%) and Google Trends search data (10%).

The difference explains today's split. CMC leans on forward-looking options data, so rising demand for downside protection pulls it lower quickly. Alternative.me leans on realised volatility and volume: a slow drift lower in calm trading, with steady volume, does not look fearful to it, and a busy day of Bitcoin posts can even push it up. The two also treat altcoins differently: Alternative.me sees them only through Bitcoin dominance, worth 10% of its score, while CMC's momentum component tracks the ten largest coins directly, so a day when altcoins fall much harder than Bitcoin weighs more on CMC.

What the market actually did

Binance's BTC/USDT spot pair traded at about $82,616 around 23:00 UTC on 12 October, down 1.27% in 24 hours, in a range of $82,311.50 to $84,352. That is the same zone where CoinMarketCap's daily series shows Bitcoin sitting since 8 October, when its index first dropped from 61 to 56. Decrypt put the October high near $86,978 and the low at $81,749.83 on 8 October, a slide of about 6%, and linked it to Brent crude above $101 a barrel, a 30-year US Treasury yield at 5.70% and outflows from spot Bitcoin ETFs.

Altcoins took more of the hit. In our own market feed late on 12 October (UTC), Solana and XRP were down about 4% in 24 hours, Ether about 2%, and NEAR, Ethena (ENA) and Wormhole (W) were among the biggest losers with 24-hour drops of roughly 12% to 14%.

What leveraged traders did: our liquidation data

Liquidations show where sentiment met leverage. Our tracker, which reads Binance USDT-M forced orders and OKX liquidation orders for BTC, ETH, SOL, XRP and DOGE, counted about $49.7 million of liquidations in the 24 hours to 22:52 UTC on 12 October across 4,736 orders. Longs made up $38.6 million of that, or about 78% by our arithmetic, so the people paying for the drift lower were those who had bet on a rebound. Ether contracts on OKX led with about $18.1 million, ahead of Bitcoin at $15.7 million and Solana at $11.4 million. The single largest order was a $1.26 million Ether long.

Funding stayed positive. Binance's last BTC perpetual funding rate was about 0.0085% per eight hours before the 00:00 UTC settlement on 13 October, and OKX's about 0.0035%. Positive funding means longs still pay shorts: traders have trimmed risk, but the crowd has not flipped to betting on a crash. That matches a neutral reading better than a fearful one.

How to use the index without being used by it

• Treat it as a thermometer, not a signal. Neither provider claims the index predicts price. It summarises what traders are already doing.
• Check which index you are looking at. CMC covers the top coins and options; Alternative.me covers Bitcoin alone. Compare like with like over time, not one against the other.
• Watch the trend, not the number. CMC's index fell from 67 to 55 in a week; that pace says more than the word "neutral".
• Pair it with positioning data. Funding, open interest and liquidations show whether sentiment is turning into leverage. Our funding-rate board and liquidations tracker update through the day.
• Extremes are rare. Both gauges touched 5 in February 2026. Readings in the 50s and 60s are normal market weather.

How to act on this

A cooling index with positive funding and long-heavy liquidations is a reason to keep leverage low, not to guess the bottom. If you trade perpetuals, check the funding board before holding a position through the next settlement, size positions so a 5% move does not reach your liquidation price, and cut what you pay in fees. On OKX a standard account pays 0.02% maker and 0.05% taker on perpetuals; signing up with NexuAlpha code nexu888 returns 40% of trading fees, settled hourly. You can also watch the liquidations tracker to see when the long squeeze is burning out.

Quick answers

What is the crypto Fear and Greed Index today? CoinMarketCap: 55, neutral (12 October, 22:38 UTC). Alternative.me: 69, greed (12 October).

Why are the two numbers different? CMC uses options put/call ratios, implied volatility, top-10 momentum, the stablecoin supply ratio and its own search data; Alternative.me uses Bitcoin volatility, volume, social media, dominance and Google Trends.

When was the index last in extreme fear? Both gauges hit 5 in February 2026: CMC on 6 February and Alternative.me on 23 February.

What was the 2026 high? CMC 82 on 27 August; Alternative.me 78 on 22 September.

Does a neutral reading mean the sell-off is over? No. It means sentiment is in the middle of the range. Funding is still positive and longs took most of the last day's liquidations.

How often does it update? Alternative.me publishes one value per day at 00:00 UTC; CoinMarketCap shows an intraday "now" value plus a daily series.