Crypto Fear & Greed Index Drops to 49, Market Shifts from 'Greed' to 'Neutral'

Jan. 16 — Per Lookonchain monitoring, a high-leverage trader deposited $3 million in USDC into Hyperliquid and opened the following high-leverage short positions: ? 18,261 ETH (valued at ~$60.32 million) ? 1,845 XMR (valued at ~$1.27 million) The liquidation price for the ETH position is $3,380.

January 16, 2026 – Inflation fears are flaring again across markets to start the year. Fund managers are flagging that a jump in metal prices, AI-driven hikes to energy and infrastructure costs, and uncertainty over Donald Trump’s planned replacement of the Federal Reserve Chair in May could push 2026 inflation far above prior forecasts. Inflation currently remains above the Fed’s 2% target. If price pressures keep mounting, markets’ initial bets on two 25-basis-point rate cuts this year may not materialize—with the risk of no cuts at all in 2026. While U.S. stocks and bonds haven’t fully priced in this risk yet, some institutions are already adopting defensive strategies. Several investors note that a 10-year Treasury yield topping 4.3% would serve as a critical warning signal of inflation and financial market stress.

On January 16, on-chain analyst Ai Auntie (@ai_9684xtpa) noted that a whale on Deribit bought two batches of BTC call options: - 1,300 contracts expiring Feb 27, 2026, with a $100,000 strike price; - 2,400 contracts expiring Jan 30, 2026, with a $98,000 strike price. The total premium paid was $10.22 million. While it’s unclear if the two positions belong to the same entity, the purchases happened in quick succession. The whale is betting on BTC’s upside with a notional value of $353 million.

January 16 — Earlier this week, Coinbase pulled its support for the 2020 Cryptocurrency Act (commonly known as the CLARITY Act), labeling it a “de facto ban on tokenized stocks.” But multiple tokenization firms are pushing back, arguing the legislation does not ban tokenized assets—instead, it clarifies their status as regulated digital securities. Securitize CEO Carlos Domingo said the current draft “does not kill tokenized stocks.” He noted the bill simply confirms tokenized stocks remain securities and must comply with existing rules—a key step toward integrating blockchain into traditional markets. Dinari CEO Gabe Otte echoed that opposition, stating, “We do not believe the CLARITY Act is a ‘de facto ban’ on tokenized stocks.” Superstate—the asset management and tokenization firm led by Compound founder Robert Leshner—also took a similar stance. Its general counsel, Alexander Zozos, said the act’s real value lies in addressing gray areas for crypto assets that don’t clearly q

**Binance to Suspend Deposits/Withdrawals for Specific Network Tokens Jan. 22, 2026** Jan. 16 — Binance will pause deposit and withdrawal services for the following network-specific tokens at 16:00 UTC+8 on Jan. 22, 2026, per official sources. After 16:00 UTC+8 on that date, deposits of these tokens will not be credited to users’ accounts and may lead to asset loss. Affected tokens and their networks: - Arbitrum (ARB) on Ethereum Network - 1Inch (1INCH) on BNB Smart Chain - Kite (KITE) on AVAX-C Chain - 0G (0G) on Ethereum Network - Turbo (TURBO) on Solana Network