Fear & Greed at lows
Retail chatter points to elevated fear: the CNN Fear & Greed Index hit its lowest level since Thanksgiving, a signal some traders view as a buying opportunity for patient investors CNN Fear & Greed Index lowest since Thanksgiving. At the same time, institutional flows are more selective — ETF buyers are concentrated into differentiated managers and liquid strategies amid the uncertainty ETF Investors Grow More Selective in an Uncertain Market | Institutional Investor.
CNN’s dataset shows)) the Fear & Greed Index at about 19.97 on March 13, 2026, a reading labeled “extreme fear” in CNN’s live feed. That intraday/close score represents)) the weakest daily reading in CNN’s series since late November 2025 (Thanksgiving week), according to CNN’s historical chart. The drop coincided with a spike in volatility — the Cboe VIX hit)) 29.49 on March 6 and was about 27.19 on March 13 — while options flows skewed toward protection, with the CBOE total put/call ratio at)) roughly 1.00 on March 9. Institutional buyers have been responding by narrowing their buys: Brown Brothers Harriman’s survey found)) roughly 95–96% of respondents plan to increase ETF allocations, even as market participants say they’re being more selective about which managers to use reports)). That selectivity is visible in flow patterns: industry trackers note rapid growth for active and liquid strategies — the global ETF market grew about 27.7% to $14.7 trillion last year reports)) — and legacy boutiques like Westwood have been pushing into ETFs (including a tie-up with Ben Fulton) to offer differentiated sleeves notes)). Academics and analysts point out limits to the signal: a peer-reviewed paper found)) the Fear & Greed series Granger-causes equity returns in some samples but that the predictive link has weakened in recent years, underscoring why institutions are favoring liquid, manager-differentiated ETF tools rather than broad index bets reports)).
