Bitcoin Continues Swoon, Crypto Fear & Greed Index Reads 'Extreme Fear' On 5/19/21 at 2:44 PM EDT A drop of 20% or more is considered a bear market. The Crypto Fear & Greed Index, a measure of investor sentiment, registered 23 and reflected the market's "extreme fear." Analysts said retail investors appear to be selling into the downdraft in response to Elon Musk's decision not to accept Bitcoin as payment for Tesla's electric vehicles. In a series of tweets, Musk appeared to say Tesla had unloaded all or some of its $1.5 billion investment in the cryptocurrency. He later clarified that he hadn't sold any Bitcoin. "In our view, this was sparked by Musk's flip-flopping on Bitcoin having a profound effect on new or less confident investors who take his view very seriously due to his success as a businessman," Jason Deane, Bitcoin analyst at Quantum Economics, in London told