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CryptoPulse’s own index

Market Pulse

A single 0–100 number answering one question: how active is the crypto market today. 50 is normal, closer to 100 means the market is running hot, closer to zero means it has stopped. Built from turnover, price movement, volatility, sentiment and altcoin behaviour. Updated once a day.

Market Pulse · 17/08/2026
22Quietnormal is 50, running hot is 100

Bitcoin turnover $10bn against a yearly norm of $39bn — 73% below. Price barely moved over 24h, sentiment reads fear. There is no activity.

0 — frozen50 — normal100 — peak
90 days agodashed line marks 50today
Bitcoin turnover$10bn vs $39bn norm
10
Price change, 24h+0.1%
51
Volatility1.2% typical move
0
Fear & Greedfear
34
Altcoin margin vs Bitcoin−1.9 pp over 30d
45

Norms are medians over 365 days · over that span the index ranged 20 to 89, median 44

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Index zones

0–19
Market frozenTurnover at its floor, price flat. Often precedes accumulation.
today
20–39
QuietActivity below normal. Weak moves, low interest.
40–59
NormalThe market is running at its usual pace.
60–79
High activityTurnover and moves above normal. Check direction separately — a rally and a crash look alike here.
80–100
Peak activityRare: record turnover and sharp moves. Only a handful of such days per year.

Zone names describe activity only and deliberately say nothing about direction: a strong rally and a crash look the same here. Over the last 365 days the index ranged from 20 to 89, with a median of 44.

How it is calculated

1
Bitcoin turnover against its norm — 40%
24h turnover compared to the median of the past 365 days, adjusted for the weekday. Three times the norm reads 100, the norm itself reads 50, a third of it reads 0. Why Bitcoin rather than the whole market: it is the only series with a clean year of history, and aggregators measure total turnover differently. Across our recorded days the global figure tracked Bitcoin’s only about half the time, so we will not present one as the other.
2
Price change over 24h — 20%
Flat reads 50, +5% or more reads 100, −5% or less reads 0. This component did not exist before: the index could not tell a rising market from a falling one.
3
Volatility — 20%
The size of the daily move against its yearly norm. A market standing still is not an active market, however respectable the turnover looks. Unsigned on purpose: this measures how much is happening, not which way.
4
Fear & Greed — 10%
The external alternative.me index, already on a 0–100 scale. Taken as published, not renormalised. Its 50 means “neutral sentiment” by its own definition — but over the past year its median sat near 25, a fearful year.
5
Altcoin margin versus Bitcoin — 10%
How far the typical altcoin runs ahead of Bitcoin over 30 days. Measured as a median margin rather than a count of coins beating Bitcoin: a threshold tally swings dozens of points when coins bunch up near the line. Stablecoins and tokenised funds are excluded — they sit at a dollar and are not a bet on altcoins.

The weights are fixed and were not fitted after the fact. Any change to the formula will be stated here.

What Pulse cannot do

Not a forecast

The index describes what has already happened over the past day. A high reading does not mean the move will continue; a low one does not mean it is time to buy.

Activity is not direction

A 67 can be a strong rally or a crash: on 6 February 2026 the market fell 14% on record turnover and scored exactly 67. Read the price-change component beside the number — that is what carries direction.

The norm keeps moving

Turnover and volatility norms are medians over a rolling year, so the same market conditions may score slightly differently a year from now.

Not a trading signal

A single number is not analysis. It answers “what is going on at all”, and no more.

Frequently asked questions

What does 50 mean?▾

Normal market conditions: turnover near the yearly median, price moving as it usually does, sentiment neutral. Above 50 is more active than usual, below is calmer. The 50 mark is drawn on the widget’s scale so you never have to hold it in your head.

Why is the index rarely above 50?▾

Because the market genuinely has been calmer than normal. Each component is centred on its own norm, but the Fear & Greed index had a median near 25 over the past year and pulls the total down. Pulse’s own yearly median is around 44 rather than 50. We do not adjust the scale to look better: if the year was sluggish, the number says so.

Is a high reading good?▾

It is a measure of activity, not a verdict. A sharp crash on enormous volume scores high just as a strong rally does. Direction comes from the price-change component and the sentence beneath the number.

Why is turnover measured on Bitcoin rather than the whole market?▾

Comparing against a norm requires a year of history, and free sources provide that per coin only. Aggregators measure total market turnover differently, and across our recorded days it tracked Bitcoin’s only about half the time. So the component is honestly named “Bitcoin turnover”.

What is the weekday adjustment?▾

Crypto turnover depends noticeably on the day of the week — weekends and Mondays are quieter than midweek. Without a correction every Monday would look like a market collapse when it is simply a Monday. We divide each day’s turnover by its weekday factor, computed across the whole year, before comparing it to the norm.

How often does it update?▾

Once a day. The value is computed automatically and published here. If a data source is unavailable, that day is not published at all — the history keeps a gap rather than an invented number.

Can I use Pulse as a trading signal?▾

No. It is a supplementary tool for a quick read on context. Trading decisions should rest on full technical and fundamental analysis, not one number.

Why measure crypto market activity

Most familiar indicators answer the question “where is price going”. Pulse answers the one traders usually ask first: is anything happening at all. Turnover at half its yearly norm with price flat for a third week is a completely different setting from the same price levels on record volume.

For that comparison to be honest it needs a reference point independent of when we started measuring. So the norm comes from a rolling year rather than our own short record: otherwise the quietest week of a quiet month would look like a surge simply because every other day was quieter still.

Use Pulse alongside the Fear & Greed Index, the Altcoin Season Index and our calculators — as one factor in the bigger picture, not the only input for a decision.

See also

Note: Pulse is a supplementary analytical tool, not a trading signal or investment advice. Use it as one factor alongside technical and fundamental research. CryptoPulse.media does not provide investment advice.