Market Expansion and Sentiment Inflection
The total crypto market cap increased $24.2 billion to $2.276T, a 1.08% gain over the 48-hour window. More significantly, the Fear & Greed Index rose from 34 to 41—breaking above the extreme fear threshold that has dominated the period—marking the largest single-day swing in the dataset at +10 points on August 18. This represents the first material sentiment recovery in the measured window, though readings remain anchored in fear territory.
24-hour trading volume nearly doubled from $30.5B to $54.2B, indicating increased participation during the rally. The volume expansion alongside a stable market cap gain suggests traders are repositioning rather than capitulating, consistent with cautious accumulation patterns.
Dominance Shifts Reflect Bitcoin Strength, Ethereum Stability
Bitcoin dominance rose 40 basis points from 56.16% to 56.56%, despite the modest market-cap advance. This increase indicates capital flowing preferentially into BTC over altcoins during the recovery period. Ethereum dominance, by contrast, compressed slightly from 10.074% to 10.037%, a 3.7 basis point decline, suggesting ETH underperformed relative to Bitcoin's technical recovery.
