India Fear & Greed Index — 21 Jul 2026
A 0–100 read on Indian stock-market sentiment, computed daily from India VIX, NIFTY momentum, market breadth, FII cash flows, FII derivatives positioning and the options put-call ratio.
The India Fear & Greed Index scores overall market sentiment from 0 (extreme fear) to 100 (extreme greed) using volatility, momentum, breadth and institutional flow. Extreme fear often marks bottoms; extreme greed often precedes pullbacks. Strota recomputes it every trading day from live NSE data.
The India Fear & Greed Index condenses Indian stock-market sentiment into a single 0–100 score, updated every trading day. 0 is maximum fear — panic selling, spiking volatility, foreign investors dumping stock. 100 is maximum greed — complacent volatility, one-sided breadth, aggressive positioning. The famous CNN Fear & Greed Index does this for US markets; this is the equivalent built specifically for Indian markets, from Indian data.
Why does a sentiment dial matter? Because the market's emotional extremes are usually wrong. Historically, moments of extreme fear have tended to coincide with better forward returns than moments of extreme greed — Warren Buffett's "be fearful when others are greedy, and greedy when others are fearful" is exactly this idea. A quantified index turns that vague intuition into something you can actually check.
Strota's index is computed from the same institutional data that powers the rest of the site: India VIX, NIFTY's momentum against its own trend, market breadth across the NSE 500, FII cash-market flows, FII index-futures positioning, and the NIFTY options put-call ratio. Every component and its weight is published below — no black box.
How the index is computed
Each component is scored 0–100, where 0 leans fear and 100 leans greed, then combined as a weighted average. India VIX (25%) — the market's own fear gauge, scored against its trailing 120-session range and inverted: a VIX near the bottom of its range signals complacency (greed), near the top signals fear. NIFTY momentum (20%) — how far the index trades from its own 50-session average close; sustained distance above trend is greed, below is fear.
Market breadth (15%) — advancers versus decliners across the NSE 500 and F&O universe at the close; one-sided participation marks sentiment extremes. FII cash flow (15%) — net foreign institutional buying or selling in the cash market over the trailing five sessions. FII derivatives positioning (15%) — how net-long foreign investors are in index futures, ranked against roughly six months of history. Options PCR (10%) — the NIFTY put-call ratio against its trailing average; an unusually put-heavy chain signals hedging and fear.
If a component's feed is unavailable on a given day, the remaining weights are renormalised rather than guessed — the index degrades gracefully and the component table below always shows exactly what went into today's number.
How to read it (and how not to)
Below 25 — Extreme Fear. Volatility elevated, breadth washed out, foreigners selling. Historically the zone where forward returns have tended to improve — though "tended to" is doing real work in that sentence; extremes can persist.
25–45 Fear · 45–55 Neutral · 55–75 Greed. The middle zones are weather, not signal — most days live here, and the index simply describes the prevailing mood.
Above 75 — Extreme Greed. Complacent volatility, one-way breadth, crowded positioning. The zone where risk management earns its keep.
What this index is not: a trading signal. Sentiment extremes mark conditions, not timestamps — markets can stay greedy or fearful far longer than a dial suggests. Use it as context alongside the flow data on this site, never as a buy/sell trigger on its own.
About the history
The composite score is computed live every trading day from the launch of the index onward, and the history chart grows daily. The India VIX and NIFTY series behind two of the components extend further back (seeded from exchange history), which is why component context is available from day one even while the composite's own track record builds.
Every day's row — score, label and full component breakdown — is stored permanently, so the index's history is auditable rather than retrofitted.
Key takeaways
- One 0–100 number for Indian market sentiment, updated every trading day.
- Built from six Indian-market components: India VIX, NIFTY momentum, breadth, FII cash flows, FII futures positioning, and options PCR.
- Fully transparent methodology — every component's value, score and weight is published daily.
- Extreme readings describe conditions, not timing — it's context, not a signal.
- Free, no login, and available as JSON for citation and embedding.
Frequently asked questions
What is the India Fear & Greed Index?
A daily 0–100 score summarising Indian stock-market sentiment, computed from India VIX, NIFTY momentum, market breadth, FII cash flows, FII derivatives positioning and the NIFTY options put-call ratio. 0 is extreme fear, 100 is extreme greed.
Is this the same as CNN's Fear & Greed Index?
Same idea, different market and different inputs. CNN's index tracks US sentiment from US data (S&P 500 momentum, VIX, junk-bond demand and so on). Strota's index is built for Indian markets from Indian data — India VIX, NIFTY, NSE breadth and FII flows.
When does it update?
Components that need live market data are sampled just before the NSE close (~15:25 IST) and the final score is confirmed the same evening once NSE publishes the day's institutional flow data (~7 PM IST).
Is a low score a buy signal?
No. Extreme fear has historically coincided with better forward returns on average, but sentiment extremes can persist for weeks. Treat the index as context alongside flow and positioning data, not as a trading signal.
Can I get the data programmatically?
Yes — the current reading, component breakdown and full daily history are available free as JSON at /api/fear-greed.json. Attribution to strota.in is appreciated.
Why is a component sometimes missing from the table?
Each component needs its data feed to be live that day (and enough history to normalise against). When one is unavailable the remaining weights are renormalised, and the table shows exactly which components produced that day's score.