🔍 What Everyone Is Searching — Market Sentiment Dashboard
Google search trends reveal what millions of retail investors are thinking. Greed searches peak at tops. Fear searches peak at bottoms.
How to Use Google Trends for Market Timing in India
Google search trends are among the most powerful contrarian indicators available to Indian retail investors — and they're completely free. When millions of Indians/Others search for "demat account" simultaneously, it means a wave of first-time investors are preparing to enter the stock market. Historically, mass entry of new demat accounts has coincided with market peaks, not bottoms.
The logic is simple: by the time the general public is excited enough to open demat accounts en masse, the easy money has already been made. Seasoned investors call this the "shoeshine boy" indicator — when everyone around you is talking about stocks, it's time to be cautious.
Conversely, when "stock market crash" searches spike, it means widespread fear. The crowd is panicking. And historically, peak retail fear has been a reliable buy signal for long-term investors. During the March 2020 crash, "stock market crash" searches in India hit all-time highs — the Nifty had bottomed within days of that search peak.
Key insight: Don't use Google Trends as a sole indicator. Combine it with valuation metrics — when "demat account" searches hit 12-month highs AND Nifty PE is above 22, that's a strong cautionary signal. When "stock market crash" searches spike AND Nifty PE drops below 18, that's historically been a high-probability buying opportunity.
⚠️ Greed Signals (Rising = Be Cautious)
When searches for "demat account" and "upcoming IPO" spike, new retail money is entering at potentially elevated levels. Demat account openings peaked before the 2024-25 correction. IPO oversubscription mania hit absurd levels right before past crashes. These are the "shoeshine boy" indicators of our time.
🟢 Fear Signals (Rising = Potential Opportunity)
When "stock market crash" and "safe investment" searches spike, retail investors are panicking. The March 2020 COVID crash, the 2022 Russia-Ukraine correction, and the September 2024 correction all saw fear search spikes that coincided with excellent buying windows for patient investors.