The Extremity Premium: Sentiment Regimes and Adverse Selection in Cryptocurrency Markets

Fuente: arXiv
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Main Author: Farzulla, Murad
Format: Preprint
Published: 2026
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_version_ 1866912904110931968
author Farzulla, Murad
author_facet Farzulla, Murad
contents Using the Crypto Fear & Greed Index and Bitcoin daily data, we document that sentiment extremity predicts excess uncertainty beyond realized volatility. Extreme fear and extreme greed regimes exhibit significantly higher spreads than neutral periods -- a phenomenon we term the "extremity premium." Extended validation on the full Fear & Greed history (February 2018--January 2026, N = 2,896) confirms the finding: within-volatility-quintile comparisons show a significant premium (p < 0.001, Cohen's d = 0.21), Granger causality from uncertainty to spreads is strong (F = 211), and placebo tests reject the null (p < 0.0001). The effect replicates on Ethereum and across 6 of 7 market cycles. However, the premium is sensitive to functional form: comprehensive regression controls absorb regime effects, while nonparametric stratification preserves them. We interpret this as evidence that sentiment extremity captures volatility-regime interactions not fully represented by parametric controls -- consistent with, but not conclusively separable from, the F&G Index's embedded volatility component. An agent-based model reproduces the pattern qualitatively. The results suggest that intensity, not direction, drives uncertainty-linked liquidity withdrawal in cryptocurrency markets, though identification of "pure" sentiment effects from volatility remains an open challenge.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2602_07018
institution arXiv
publishDate 2026
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle The Extremity Premium: Sentiment Regimes and Adverse Selection in Cryptocurrency Markets
Farzulla, Murad
Statistical Finance
Computational Finance
91B84, 91G15, 68T42, 62M10
J.4; I.6.5; G.3
Using the Crypto Fear & Greed Index and Bitcoin daily data, we document that sentiment extremity predicts excess uncertainty beyond realized volatility. Extreme fear and extreme greed regimes exhibit significantly higher spreads than neutral periods -- a phenomenon we term the "extremity premium." Extended validation on the full Fear & Greed history (February 2018--January 2026, N = 2,896) confirms the finding: within-volatility-quintile comparisons show a significant premium (p < 0.001, Cohen's d = 0.21), Granger causality from uncertainty to spreads is strong (F = 211), and placebo tests reject the null (p < 0.0001). The effect replicates on Ethereum and across 6 of 7 market cycles. However, the premium is sensitive to functional form: comprehensive regression controls absorb regime effects, while nonparametric stratification preserves them. We interpret this as evidence that sentiment extremity captures volatility-regime interactions not fully represented by parametric controls -- consistent with, but not conclusively separable from, the F&G Index's embedded volatility component. An agent-based model reproduces the pattern qualitatively. The results suggest that intensity, not direction, drives uncertainty-linked liquidity withdrawal in cryptocurrency markets, though identification of "pure" sentiment effects from volatility remains an open challenge.
title The Extremity Premium: Sentiment Regimes and Adverse Selection in Cryptocurrency Markets
topic Statistical Finance
Computational Finance
91B84, 91G15, 68T42, 62M10
J.4; I.6.5; G.3
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2602.07018