Sentiment on r/Gold right now reads like CT after BTC crashed in 2025.

- Isn't gold a safe-haven asset?
- Why is it behaving like crypto?
Gold dumped as much as ~22% from its ATH and Reddit is in disbelief.
As a crypto investor this is not surprising but for a macro asset it's new.
I think that crypto actually leads the market in retail sentiment (making it a key asset class to follow).
But while crypto is being sold by retail and bought by institutions, the opposite is happening for gold and equities.
Since Q2 2025, retail bought +$70B in gold ETFs. That's 3x over the last 6 months.
Institutions sold $1B over the same period.
Gold ETFs used to be an institutional product but narratives of Ray Dalio's "Changing World Order" and 'debasement trade' pushed retail into gold.
Same for stocks.
Retail does 20-35% daily US equity volume and they own 38% of all US stocks.
FT reports retail is still net buying stocks 'virtually every day since the war began.'
The BIS chart shows retail still buying gold/silver while institutions are selling.
We've seen this in crypto many times.
Gold used to move slow but now it trades like a memecoin because the same retail degens trade it the same way they trade BTC.
Emotionally and without conviction.
If retail is buying the dip in gold and stocks while institutions exit, equities could be next.
Everything is a trade for retail degens, which really helps BTC as ppl started to question its digital gold story.