Wall Street's most watched warning gauge just hit 9.7 out of 10.
Any score above 8 means sell.
It has not been this high since the 2021 market peak.
And almost nobody is protected this time.
Here is what you need to know:
Bank of America tracks a gauge called the Bull and Bear Indicator.
It measures how greedy or fearful big investors are right now.
Any reading above 8 is a warning to sell.
On August 8, it hit 9.7.
That is the highest reading since 2021.
Back then, it marked the peak of a wild market rally.
What came next was one of the worst years for stocks in decades.
Now here is the scary part:
The professionals are almost all in.
Fund managers are holding record low cash, just 3.6%.
That means they have little money left on the sidelines to buy dips.
Nearly half of them hold no protection against a drop at all.
That is the most exposed they have been since 2018.
Everyone is betting the same way. Up.
And the exits get crowded when everyone stands on the same side.
History shows why this matters:
> This signal has flashed 17 times since 2002.
> After each one, global stocks fell an average of 2 to 3%.
> In the worst cases, the drop reached 15 to 20%.
It is not a guarantee of a crash.
But it is a clear sign the crowd has gotten greedy.
Meanwhile, regular investors keep pouring money in.
A single recent week saw $32.9 billion flow into stocks.
The S&P 500 is sitting at an all time high.
Everyone feels smart when the market only goes up.
That feeling is exactly when risk is highest.
This is the trap that catches retail every cycle.
They buy the most right when everyone else already has.
They hold no protection because nothing has gone wrong yet.
Then the mood shifts and the selling starts.
The people who panic at the bottom fund the gains of those who stayed calm.
Bank of America's own advice was blunt. Retreat from risk.
But here is the real lesson:
You cannot time the exact top. Nobody can!
The answer is not to guess when the crowd turns.
It is to follow rules that already know what to do when it does.
Rules that trim risk automatically, without fear or greed in the way.
Surmount was built to run that discipline for you:
