Market sentiment: “Seeming stagnation”

February 11, 2026. FRANKFURT (Goldberg & Goldberg). Since our last sentiment survey, stock market traders in Germany have had to endure two very different halves of the week. Initially, the DAX fell once again, not least because the US stock markets had to deal with the aftermath of investors pulling out of tech stocks. Then, at the beginning of the week, a breath of fresh air drove the DAX back up, leaving it with a weekly gain of 0.9 percent as of today. The fact that the price development was perceived as hectic in some quarters may also have been due to the development of gold and silver – the latter in particular saw another sharp downward correction before later, starting with a recovery at the end of the week, almost making up for some of the heavy price losses.

As far as the DAX is concerned, however, we see almost the same range as in the previous sentiment week, and those who were not there could conclude, somewhat simplistically, that it was once again much ado about nothing.

Optimism dispelled

Meanwhile, there has been some movement among the institutional investors with a medium-term trading horizon that we surveyed: our Deutsche Börse Sentiment Index has fallen by 12 points to the neutral 0 line. While the DAX's trading range since last Wednesday has been almost identical to that of the previous week, and even slightly narrower, there has only been movement at the upper end. The bull camp has fallen by 6 percentage points, with the entire group of those willing to switch sides moving to the short side; positions have thus been reversed 180° from bullish to bearish. These 6 percent of all respondents are probably a more short-term oriented portion of the institutional panel. The bears apparently had no urge to take their interim profits in the falling market.

Private investors' unique path

There have been some remarkable changes among private investors. Even though our Deutsche Börse Sentiment Index fell by only 3 points to a new level of +20, it was by no means the private investors whom we do not survey via social media who reduced their bullish positions (in contrast to institutional investors). On the contrary, the sentiment index in this subgroup actually rose by 9 points to a new level of +13, while those private investors whom we survey via social media actually reduced their bullish positions, bucking the trend.

Today's survey thus reveals a clear divide in sentiment between private and institutional investors. Even though the latter show an absolutely neutral index level of +/-0, a negative undertone still emerges in relative terms, especially when looking at a three-month horizon. Furthermore, the recent sell-offs by institutional investors have not affected the DAX, so that the sentiment-related situation of the stock market barometer remains slightly positive in the end.

Even if the DAX comes under pressure again, we expect demand from recent bearish positions just above the two-week lows of around 24,300 points, but also between 24,100 and 24,150 points. The upside is somewhat more permeable after the recent sell-off, with fresh supply likely to come from the group of neutral investors between 25,400 and 25,500 points – they make up the majority of institutional investors, accounting for 36 percent of all respondents.

by Joachim Goldberg

February 11, 2026, © Goldberg & Goldberg for Deutsche Börse

The Deutsche Börse Sentiment Index ranges between -100 (total pessimism) and +100 (total optimism), with the transition from positive to negative values marking the neutral line.

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