The Crypto Market Is Flashing This Bearish Sign for the Very First Time. Here's What to Do.

2026-02-23 07:36:00 ET

When everyone else is screaming that they're selling everything -- or that you're going to be poor forever if you don't back up the truck and buy as much as you possibly can -- the desire to jump on the bandwagon is bound to be strong.

And recently, the crypto market has been flashing one of the most panicked signals it has ever printed. The sentiment-tracking fear and greed index, as assessed by CoinMarketCap as well as other crypto data providers, reached an all-time low of 5 on Feb. 5, indicating extreme fear. As of Feb. 18, it's at 12, another extraordinarily low readout that is almost never seen because of the intensity of the bearishness it signals. Meanwhile, Bitcoin (CRYPTO: BTC) , Ethereum (CRYPTO: ETH) , and XRP (CRYPTO: XRP) have all taken a severe beating alongside the broader crypto market's decline.

Here's how you should interpret this information, and what to consider doing about it.

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