The crypto market’s Fear and Greed Index moved sharply to “fear” this week, falling to levels last seen in April, as a market sell-off wiped out more than $230 billion in a single day.
On Friday, CoinMarketCap’s Crypto Fear & Greed Index, which tracks volatility, market dynamics, social media trends and dominance metrics, fell to a low of 28, which is in the “fear” category and close to “extreme fear.”
Data from CoinMarketCap showed that on Friday, the total crypto market cap fell to around $3.54 trillion, a 6% decline from the previous day’s $3.78 trillion. That wiped out more than $230 billion in value from the sector, marking one of the steepest daily declines in months.
The Fear and Greed Index for traditional assets also fell to 22, signaling extreme fear in the market, after U.S. stocks closed lower on Thursday as credit market turmoil, regional banks’ exposure to bad loans and U.S.-China trade tensions caused jitters on Wall Street.
Top crypto assets continue to bleed
Data shows that major crypto assets extended their declines over the past 24 hours as the broader market correction intensified.
Bitcoin (BTC) fell almost 6% to around $105,000, while Ether (ETH) fell almost 8% to around $3,700. Among large-cap altcoins, BNB (BNB) led the losses with a decline of almost 12%, followed by Chainlink (LINK) with a decline of 11% and Cardano (ADA), which fell 9%.
Solana (SOL) and XRP (XRP) also fell more than 7%, extending a week-long decline that erased double-digit gains accumulated earlier this month.
On average, the largest non-stable crypto assets are down around 8-9% over the past 24 hours.
While last week’s stock market crash led to nearly $20 billion in liquidations, this week’s downturn has led to a significant drop in activity.
As of Friday, CoinGlass data showed that about $556 million in leveraged positions had been wiped out on exchanges, a tiny fraction of last week’s figure.
Of this amount, approximately $451 million came from long positions, while $105 million came from short liquidations.
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NFTs, Memecoins and ETFs React to Market Liquidation
Besides major cryptocurrencies, other assets such as memecoins, non-fungible tokens (NFTs), and exchange-traded funds (ETFs) were also affected by the recent crash.
Memecoins, which showed slight signs of recovery this week, fell 33% in 24 hours, according to CoinMarketCap. Top Memecoin assets saw declines of 9-11% over the past 24 hours, while trading volumes remained relatively high at nearly $10 billion.
The NFT sector, which also rebounded from a $1.2 billion wipeout last week, erased its gains and fell below a $5 billion valuation, a level last seen in July. Data from CoinGecko showed that a majority of blue-chip collections fell by double-digit percentages over the past 24 hours.
Meanwhile, spot Bitcoin and Ether ETFs reacted to the crash. On Thursday, Bitcoin spot ETFs saw outflows of over $536 million, while Ether spot ETFs posted daily net outflows of over $56 million.
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