It’s almost difficult to imagine that just a couple of weeks ago, bitcoin was riding high above $95,000, and the community was speculating about a potential run toward a six-digit price territory for the first time in 2026.
Not only did that rally fail to materialize, but the bears woke up in the middle of winter and initiated several consecutive leg-downs that ultimately crashed $BTC to a multi-month low. With that, the overall sentiment plummeted as well.
Fear and Greed Goes South
The popular Bitcoin Fear and Greed Index gathers data from various sources, such as overall volatility, market momentum, $BTC dominance, and social media comments, to determine the current investor and community sentiment toward the largest digital asset. Price fluctuations and market momentum are responsible for 50% of the final result, which ranges from 0 (extreme fear) to 100 (extreme greed). This makes it rather logical that the metric has plunged lately.
As the graph below will clearly demonstrate, extreme fear dominates the current market phase. It has been below 30 since January 22, when $BTC’s correction began. After Saturday’s market-wide crash, in which over $2.5 billion worth of leveraged positions were wiped out, the index has gone to 14 – the lowest levels since mid-December.
If you have missed the events that transpired on Saturday, here’s a quick recap. $BTC had recovered some ground to $84,000 after the Thursday crash, but then suddenly plunged to $75,500, which became its lowest price tag since last April. This meant that $BTC had dropped by $20,000 since January 18, when it stood at $95,500. The altcoins followed suit yesterday with massive declines, as many marked lows not seen in over a year.
Blessing in Disguise?
Before we determine that $BTC is dead again, according to the Fear and Greed Index, let’s take you back to the immortal investment words by one of the greats, Warren Buffett, who has said in the past that people should be greedy when others are fearful, and vice versa.
If he is to be believed, and history is on his side on this, now would be the time to be greedy and enter the ecosystem, right? Previous occasions on which $BTC (or other assets) have experienced wild swings in investor sentiment have led to almost immediate reversals.
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Robert Kiyosaki also weighed in on this topic, outlining the differences between the rich and the poor. He believes the first group goes on a shopping spree when the financial markets “are on sale” (meaning, a crash), while the second tends to sell and run.
DIfFERENCE BETWEEN Rich People and Poor People:
When Walmart has a SALE poor people rush in and buy, buy, buy.
Yet when the Financial Asset Market has a sale….a.k.a…..CRASH…
the poor sell and run….while the rich rush in….and buy, buy, buy.The gold, silver, and Bitcoin…
— Robert Kiyosaki (@theRealKiyosaki) February 1, 2026