What CNN's index measures
CNN's Fear & Greed Index reads how US stock investors are behaving from seven indicators, weighted equally:
- Market momentum: the S&P 500 against its 125-day average.
- Stock price strength: NYSE stocks at 52-week highs against those at 52-week lows.
- Stock price breadth: the McClellan Volume Summation Index.
- Put and call options: the 5-day average put/call ratio.
- Market volatility: the VIX against its 50-day average.
- Safe-haven demand: Treasury returns minus stock returns over the last 20 trading days.
- Junk bond demand: the yield spread between junk and investment-grade bonds.
The result is a number from 0 to 100, labeled from Extreme Fear to Extreme Greed, and it updates during the trading day. The live reading is on CNN's Fear & Greed page.
What Regime Card measures
Regime Card reads US market risk conditions across asset classes, not stocks alone, from eight signals in these categories:
- Credit stress · Spread dynamics
- Equity vol regime · IV structure
- Bond market vol · Rates uncertainty
- Currency carry · FX risk appetite
- Commodity growth · Industrial demand
- Sector leadership · Cyclical strength
- Defensive rotation · Risk positioning
- Yield curve · Term structure
They combine into a percentile from 0 to 100, ranked against history, and one of five regimes: Risk-Off, Mildly Off, Neutral, Mildly On and Risk-On. One reading is settled each day after the US close. The categories are public; the weights and thresholds that combine them are not published. Today's reading.
Sentiment versus regime
The two answer different questions. CNN's index asks how stock investors are acting: are they chasing prices, buying protection, crowding into safety? Every input comes from the US stock market or sits right next to it. Regime Card asks what kind of market this is across asset classes: are credit, rates, currencies and commodities calm or stressed, alongside stocks? A sentiment gauge follows the crowd in one market; a regime reading follows conditions around it.
When they tend to agree, and why they can differ
Both use a volatility input and a credit-spread input, so broad stress in stocks and credit tends to move both in the same direction. They can differ when stocks are calm but credit, rates, currencies or commodities are not: CNN's index sees mostly the calm, while Regime Card sees the other markets too. They can also differ after a sharp one-day stock move, which CNN's intraday index picks up within the session and Regime Card only weighs once the day has settled.
Not the crypto Fear and Greed Index
A different index with a similar name, the Crypto Fear & Greed Index from Alternative.me, reads Bitcoin market sentiment. It is not CNN's and it is not about stocks. For how cryptocurrencies have done in each US market regime, see Crypto by market regime.
What research says about CNN's index
Farrell and O'Connor (Finance Research Letters 72, 2025) found that the index's link to later S&P 500 returns in 2011 to 2020 weakened considerably in 2021 to 2024. The paper's abstract.
What neither does
Neither index forecasts the market, and neither is investment advice. Both describe conditions today. Regime Card's returns by regime are base rates, what happened after past days in each regime, not a forecast: see why the mildly stressed market has been the weakest place to be, and how each of 201 US stocks has done in each regime.
Common questions
Is the Fear and Greed Index a good indicator?
It summarizes how US stock investors are behaving right now: momentum, breadth, options, volatility and the appetite for junk bonds, rolled into one number. It describes sentiment; it is not a forecast. A 2025 study in Finance Research Letters found its link to later S&P 500 returns weakened considerably in 2021 to 2024 compared with 2011 to 2020.
How often is the Fear and Greed Index updated?
CNN updates it during the trading day as its seven indicators move. Regime Card is different: it settles one reading a day, after the US close.
Is the crypto Fear and Greed Index the same as CNN's?
No. The crypto Fear and Greed Index is published by Alternative.me and reads Bitcoin market sentiment. CNN's index reads the US stock market. They share a name and a 0 to 100 scale, nothing else.
What is the difference between the Fear and Greed Index and the VIX?
The VIX is one number: the options market's expected volatility of the S&P 500 over the next 30 days. CNN's index uses it as one of seven inputs, comparing the VIX with its own 50-day average, and combines it with six other stock market indicators.
What does risk-on and risk-off mean?
Risk-on describes markets where investors are willing to hold riskier assets: stocks rise, credit spreads are calm, volatility is low. Risk-off is the reverse: money moves toward safety, spreads widen and volatility rises. Regime Card places each day on that scale, from Risk-Off to Risk-On, using signals from credit, rates, currencies, commodities and stocks.
Regime Card is not affiliated with or endorsed by CNN. Fear & Greed Index is a trademark of its owner.