Investor sentiment turns to “extreme greed” as gold adds a day’s worth of value equal to the entire BTC market

Gold Breaks $5,500 as Sentiment Hits “Extreme Greed,” Bitcoin Trails Below $90K

Gold’s rally is gaining speed, moving from a steady trend into a crowded trade. The metal surpassed $5,500 an ounce Wednesday, adding roughly $1.6 trillion in notional value in a single day—roughly equal to bitcoin’s total market cap. While this “market cap” comparison is based on above-ground supply rather than a float-adjusted measure, it highlights the market mood: cash is flowing into the traditional hedge first.

Sentiment readings underscore the split. JM Bullion’s Gold Fear & Greed Index, which tracks premiums, volatility, social media sentiment, retail buying, and Google Trends interest, now signals “extreme greed.” By contrast, crypto’s fear-and-greed gauges have lingered in the opposite zone for most of the month.

Silver is also posting sharp weekly gains and intraday swings, reinforcing the precious-metals narrative. Bitcoin, however, remains range-bound in the high-$80,000s, still well below its October peak, trading like a high-beta risk asset rather than a reliable hedge.

The divergence doesn’t kill bitcoin’s thesis: it has outperformed most assets over longer periods and can rally sharply when flows return. But recent weeks show that “store of value” depends as much on who is buying and why as on the narrative—and right now, investors are choosing bars and coins over tokens and wallets.