CNN's Fear & Greed Index blends 7 sentiment signals — momentum, breadth, options demand, volatility, junk-bond demand, and safe-haven demand — into a single 0-100 score.
Each of the 7 inputs is measured against its own recent trading range and converted to a 0-100 sub-score, then averaged into the composite reading CNN publishes daily — the index adapts across cycles instead of using one fixed cutoff forever.
Live example: CNN's Fear & Greed Index currently reads 38/100, rated “fear”. Quantustik feeds this same reading into its own Market Conditions score, but scores it against the index's own history rather than a fixed threshold.
Extreme fear (below 25) has historically coincided with washed-out markets and extreme greed (above 75) with frothy ones — the contrarian read behind "be fearful when others are greedy" — but it is context, not a timing tool: markets can stay extreme for weeks.
It's contrarian context — extreme fear has historically coincided with oversold markets, but the index can stay there for weeks and says nothing about any one ticker.
Stock price momentum, price strength, market breadth, put/call demand, junk-bond demand, VIX, and safe-haven demand.
No — one input to the composite Market Conditions score that gates position sizing platform-wide, never a standalone trigger.
Browse all S&P 500 tickers to see this metric applied to individual companies.
Educational research only — not investment advice.