Crypto 'Fear-Greed Index' at 70... Investor sentiment improves, markets relieved to see CPI rise 3.4% in line with expectations

Crypto data provider Alternative's self-estimated “Fear-Greed Index” rose to 70, up six points from the previous day. The greed phase continued with improved sentiment. The index indicates extreme fear in the market, with readings closer to zero indicating extreme fear, and readings closer to 100 indicating extreme optimism. The Fear Greed Index is calculated based on volatility (25%), trading volume (25%), social media mentions (15%), surveys (15%), Bitcoin market capitalization (10%), and Google searches (10%).

Meanwhile, the U.S. Department of Labor reported that the Consumer Price Index (CPI) rose 3.4% year-over-year in April (up from 3.5% in February). This was in line with market expectations of 3.4%. On a month-over-month basis, the CPI rose 0.3%, below market expectations of 0.4%. The April core consumer price index rose 0.3% month-over-month, also in line with market expectations of 0.3%.

In response, U.S. President Joe Biden said on April 15 (local time) that “April's U.S. consumer price index (CPI) shows that inflation is still too high,” according to Walter Bloomberg's economic news Twitter account. On the downside, the price of Bitcoin surged to $66.5K before a brief correction.