Gold’s run is starting to look less like a constant trend and more like a crowd event.
The yellow metal pushed through $5,500 per ounce late Wednesday, and at that rate its nominal value rose by about $1.6 trillion in a single day — or about the size of bitcoin’s entire market capitalization.
It’s a punchy comparison that comes with fine print, as gold “market cap” is an estimate based on above-ground supplies, not a float-adjusted equity-style measure.
But it captures the mood: In the market’s version of a degrading trade, the cash goes first to the old hedge.
The feeling reflects that division. Gold-focused gauges are now flashing “extreme greed,” while crypto’s own fear-and-greed readings have been stuck in the opposite zone for most of the month.
JM Bullion’s Gold Fear & Greed Index is a 0-100 sentiment gauge built from five inputs: physical gold premiums, spot price volatility, social media tone, JM Bullion retail buying/selling and Google Trends interest. Low readings indicate fear and capitulation, while high readings indicate overblown bullishness. It is meant as a contrarian signal and not a price forecast.
Silver also adds fuel to the precious metals narrative, with sharp weekly gains and sharp intraday swings that feel more like a positioning squeeze than a slow accumulation story.
Bitcoin, on the other hand, still trades as a high-beta risk asset that needs clean liquidity conditions and a clear catalyst.
It hovered around the high $80,000s, still well below October’s peak, even as the metals were torn apart and headlines continued to feed the “hard asset” frame. It’s awkward for the macro pitch many crypto investors have leaned on — that bitcoin should act as digital gold when confidence in currencies and fiscal policy begins to falter.
However, the gap does not mean that the thesis is dead. Bitcoin has outperformed most assets across longer windows, and it can move quickly when flows reverse.
But the past few weeks have been a reminder that “store of value” is as much about who’s buying and why as it is about the narrative.
Right now, the marginal buyer looking for shelter chooses bars and coins – not tokens and wallets – and bitcoin is being made to prove again what it’s for.
