Bitcoin back to record fear levels as it wipes weekend gains

The Crypto Fear and Greed Index fell back to its lowest levels on Monday as Bitcoin plunged more than 4% on the day to $64,300, giving back its gains since Friday.

More than 136,000 traders were liquidated over the past 24 hours, with total liquidations sitting at $458 million, 92% of which were leveraged long positions, according to CoinGlass.

Bitcoin saw some gains over the weekend, tapping $68,600 on Saturday, but it now sits at support at the bottom of a range-bound channel that formed after its Feb. 6 wipeout to $60,000.

Bitcoin is now trading 48% lower than its October all-time high of $126,000 and 5.5% below its peak level of $69,000 from the 2021 bull market.

Bitcoin sheds more than $3,000 in less than two hours. Source: TradingView

Fear and Greed Index at historic lows

Alternative.me’s Crypto Fear and Greed index, which measures overall market sentiment, has fallen back to 5 out of 100, indicating “extreme fear.”

It has only ever fallen this low three times since 2018 — when the index launched — including August 2019, June 2022, and earlier this month.

On-chain analytics provider Glassnode reported on Monday that the seven-day moving average for net realized losses for recent investors was still nearly $500 million per day, noting that they are still capitulating.

“While the intensity has cooled, the broader regime still signals a market under pressure, with participants in the base formation phase continuing to capitulate.”

Bitcoin Sharpe Ratio also at historical lows

Meanwhile, analyst Michaël van de Poppe posted what he called a “phenomenal chart” on Saturday showing that the Sharpe Ratio for Bitcoin has fallen to -38.4, “which historically has marked ‘low risk’ accumulation zones.”

The ratio measures Bitcoin’s performance relative to the risk taken, indicating how much return an investor can expect for each unit of risk.

The Bitcoin Sharpe Ratio has only been lower twice in history. Source: Michaël van de Poppe