CFGI vs CNN Fear and Greed Index

What Does Each One Cover?

The CNN Fear and Greed Index popularised the format. It scores the US stock market as a whole from 7 equally weighted indicators: market momentum, stock price strength, stock price breadth, put and call options, market volatility (the VIX), junk bond demand and safe-haven demand. CFGI scores stocks too, but individually, across major indices and the most-traded names, from 10 indicators. It also scores crypto on the same 0 to 100 scale, so the equity crowd and the crypto crowd can be read side by side.

Indicators: 7 Versus 10

Under the hood, the two indexes share a good deal of DNA. Both read market behaviour rather than opinion, and both lean on classic stress signals: volatility (the VIX), market breadth, safe-haven demand and the appetite for risky versus safe bonds all feature in each. The differences are in depth and breadth. CFGI reads 10 indicators rather than 7, giving it a few extra angles on the same equity mood, and crucially, its methodology extends to crypto, where it folds in signals that have no equity equivalent, like on-chain whale flows, Bitcoin dominance and social activity. So while the two are close cousins when reading US stocks, CFGI is built from the ground up to read a second, very different asset class on the same scale, which a stock-only index simply is not.

CFGI vs CNN, Side by Side

The Big Difference: Breadth and Granularity

The headline distinction is not really the indicator count, it is what each index can show you. CNN produces one number for the entire US stock market, which is clean but inevitably an average that hides internal divergences. CFGI, by scoring assets individually and across both equities and crypto, can surface exactly those divergences, which are often where the useful information lives. It can show the equity crowd cautious while crypto runs hot, or one stock in fear while another runs greedy. On 5 February 2026, for example, CFGI scored crypto at an all-time low of 12 while the stock market sat at 35, two very different moods at the same instant, the kind of split a single market gauge can never reveal. For anyone active in more than one market, or in specific names, that granularity is the whole point.

Which Should You Use?

Neither is strictly better; they suit different needs. If you only watch the broad US market and want a single, trusted, glanceable read, CNN gives exactly that, and its long-standing prominence is a genuine virtue. If you trade specific stocks, or you hold both stocks and crypto, CFGI is built for that: it scores names individually and puts equities and crypto on one comparable scale, so you can see where each crowd actually stands rather than relying on a single market average. Many people find the honest answer is to appreciate CNN for what it pioneered while using a per-asset, multi-market index when they need to go deeper than one number, matching the tool to the breadth of what they actually invest in.