What is gold market sentiment today? Our fear and greed index for gold combines price momentum, dollar strength, real interest rates and volatility into a single 0-100 score — updated daily, with 5 years of free public history.
Very pessimistic sentiment. Panic-level selling pressure.
Cautious sentiment. Investors seeking safety.
Balanced sentiment. No clear trend.
Optimistic sentiment. Investors taking risks.
Market euphoria. Stretched, one-sided optimism.
The Gold Index measures sentiment TOWARDS gold using 6 components. We measure whether investors are buying or selling gold and whether they are allocating to it as a safe haven, regardless of the underlying macro reason. All scores from 0-100:
Direct 14-day GLD performance
Measures direct SPDR Gold Trust (GLD) price change over 14 days. GLD +10% = score 100 (extreme greed), GLD -10% = score 0 (extreme fear). Captures actual buying/selling sentiment regardless of the underlying reason. Uses a x5 multiplier centered at 50.
Mean-reversion and trend signal
Combines 14-day RSI with price position relative to 50-day and 200-day moving averages. Contribution scales with distance from each MA rather than binary signals. RSI provides a ±25 point contribution centered at 50. Price above MA50 by 10% = strong bullish signal; price below both MAs with RSI < 30 = extreme fear.
Safe-haven allocation flow
Compares gold's 14-day return against the S&P500 (SPY ETF). Gold outperforming stocks = investors choosing gold as safe haven = higher score. Gold +5% while stocks -5% = strong safe-haven demand. Gold underperforming stocks = risk-on environment, less demand for gold. Uses a x2.5 multiplier on the relative performance gap.
USD strength (inverted correlation)
Gold and the dollar typically move inversely. Weakening dollar = stronger gold demand = higher score. Tracks 14-day change in DXY (US Dollar Index vs basket of currencies) with a x15 multiplier. Dollar down 3.3% = score 100, dollar up 3.3% = score 0.
10-Year TIPS yield (inflation-adjusted)
Gold is a non-yielding asset, so lower real rates = more attractive gold = higher score. Uses FRED API (DFII10 — 10-Year Treasury Inflation-Indexed Security) with Yahoo Finance fallback. Real rate at -1% = score ~94, at +3% = score ~19.
Market stress / safe haven demand
Compares current VIX to its 3-month average using a z-score with tanh normalization. VIX above average = market stress = increased safe haven demand for gold = higher score. Uses tanh(z × 0.7) × 50 formula: smooth compression with no hard saturation cliff, preserving signal even during extreme volatility spikes.
Full cross-asset methodology and data sources available on the About page.
Yes — and it's the most common confusion with sentiment indices. The index measures sentiment: momentum, positioning, flows — not the price level. Gold can trade near its highs while its momentum cools, the dollar strengthens, or investors rotate toward stocks: the index reads that as Fear. A low score doesn't mean gold is cheap; it means recent behavior around gold is cautious.
CNN's index covers US stocks only — there is no CNN index for gold. This is a dedicated gold sentiment index, with six published components and weights you can verify, alongside our Stocks, Bonds and Crypto indices for cross-asset comparison. CNN's methodology is proprietary; ours is fully documented.
Mostly the dollar (they move inversely) and real interest rates — and less than you'd think by panic: in five years of our data, gold barely reacts on high-stress market days. It's a slow diversifier, not an intraday hedge. Its biggest sentiment swings have come from its own momentum: sharp corrections after strong runs.
The index measures sentiment, not value — it won't answer that. In our own backtests, Extreme Fear has not been a reliable buy signal for gold. Treat extreme readings as context about the crowd's mood: rare conditions worth your attention, not an instruction.
Daily, shortly after the US market close. The full data is free and public: current score, all six components, one year of daily history — plus five years of aligned score-and-price history in open JSON. No key, no signup.