Crypto investor sentiment cratered to the most negative levels since the tail-end of the 2022 crypto winter as bitcoin's (BTC) plunge below $54,000 pulled down digital asset markets.

The widely-followed Crypto Fear & Greed Index, created by data source Alternative.me, shows market enthusiasm towards bitcoin and other large cryptocurrencies, with 0 being extreme fear and 100 translating to extreme greed.

The gauge dropped to 29 on Friday, its deepest dive into the fear zone since early January 2023 when bitcoin was trading around $17,000 after 2022's crushing bear market.

The metric notably sent out a contrarian sell signal this past March when it reached the 90 level at near what turned out to be (so far) the 2024 top of the broader crypto market and bitcoin's all-time high of about $73,500. Since then, BTC and ether (ETH) are 25%-30% lower, while altcoin majors plunged around 50% and smaller tokens lost even more.

Crypto Fear & Greed Index (Alternative.me)

Is the bottom in?

Extreme levels of fear may present buying opportunities, but the reality is more nuanced with several factors to be considered.

The key catalysts behind the downturn was the unloading of seized bitcoin by German and U.S. governments, along with "preemptively selling" as the estate of defunct Japanese exchange Mt. Gox started to refund investors this month, Rachel Lin, CEO and co-founder of derivatives trading venue SynFutures, said in a market update.

The selling pressure is unlikely to abate in the short-term, she said. The German government still holds some $2.2 billion worth of BTC, the U.S. government has over $12 billion and the Mt. Gox estate has more than $8 billion of assets, data by blockchain tracing platform Arkham Intelligence shows.