Fear & Greed
A 0-100 read on market mood. We blend five independent signals — momentum, volatility, safe-haven flows, credit demand, and breadth — into a single score that updates daily.
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What's driving it
The five signals
Each component is scored 0-100 against its own 1-2 year history, then combined with the weights below. Higher scores point toward greed; lower scores toward fear.
Momentum
Weight 20%How far the S&P 500 is trading above or below its 125-day moving average. A market well above trend lifts this score; one stuck below trend drags it down.
Volatility
Weight 25%The VIX (Wall Street's "fear gauge") measured against its 50-day average. Compressed volatility lifts this score; spikes drag it down.
Safe-Haven Demand
Weight 20%20-day total return on stocks (SPY) minus 20-day return on treasuries (IEF). When stocks lead bonds by a clear margin, investors are leaning risk-on.
Credit Spreads
Weight 20%20-day return on high-yield (junk) bonds (HYG) minus return on investment-grade (LQD). When investors reach for yield, this score rises — a signal of confidence in the credit cycle.
Market Breadth
Weight 15%The share of major sector ETFs trading above their own 50-day moving average. Broad participation signals a healthy advance; narrow leadership signals a fragile one.
How it's calculated
Methodology
Five signals, one number.The index pulls daily closing prices for the S&P 500, the VIX, treasuries (IEF), high-yield (HYG) and investment-grade (LQD) bond ETFs, and the eleven major sector ETFs. Each becomes one component score.
Each score is contextual.A raw value (e.g. “the S&P is 4% above its 125-day average”) is normalized against its own rolling 1-2 year window. So the same raw number can score differently depending on what's normal lately.
Then they're weighted. Volatility carries the most weight (25%); momentum, safe-haven flows, and credit each carry 20%; breadth is 15%. The weighted average is rounded to a single 0-100 score, which maps to a five-band classification: Extreme Fear, Fear, Neutral, Greed, Extreme Greed.
Inputs
- ^GSPC— S&P 500 daily closes
- ^VIX — CBOE Volatility Index
- SPY, IEF — stocks vs. 7-10y treasuries
- HYG, LQD — high-yield vs. investment-grade credit
- XLK · XLF · XLE · XLV · XLI · XLY · XLP · XLU · XLB · XLRE · XLC — eleven sector ETFs for breadth
Update cadence
Recomputed daily after the US market close. The current score is cached for an hour at the page level and refreshes when you reload.