Financial Conditions (NFCI)

The NFCI compresses 105 indicators of risk, credit, and leverage into one weekly number: positive = tighter than average, negative = looser. It's the closest thing to a single dial for "is the financial system easy or stressed?"

Spikes mark every crisis — 2008 dominating, March 2020 second. For crypto, the regime reading matters most: risk assets rally when conditions loosen (NFCI falling), and the index loosening during 2023's Fed tightening explained that year's "impossible" rally.