Global Liquidity Index Explained (How to Use it in Investing)
The Global Liquidity Index (GLI) is a TradingView indicator that tracks global liquidity: how much capital flows through the global economy at any point. It combines central bank balance sheets, money supply, and key US liquidity accounts into a single line. When liquidity expands, it often lifts stocks, crypto, and other investments – making GLI a useful indicator for traders and investors. This guide explains how the Global Liquidity Index works, and how you can use it in the markets.
- GLI combines central bank balance sheets, money supply, and key US liquidity accounts.
- It tends to rise when global liquidity expands and fall when it contracts.
- Bitcoin and the Nasdaq have loosely tracked GLI over time. Gold and bonds less so.
- GLI works best as a long-term trend gauge, not a short-term trading signal.
What is the Global Liquidity Index?
The Global Liquidity Index (GLI) is a measure of total liquidity in the global financial system, shown in US dollar trillions. It pulls together four main inputs: central bank balance sheets, money supply, the US Treasury General Account, and reverse repo operations. Here’s the basic idea:
- When GLI rises: more money moves through the economy – which can push asset prices higher.
- When GLI drops: less money flows through the system – making it harder for investments to climb.
The table below breaks down the index’s key inputs:
| Liquidity measure | What it tracks | Why it matters |
| Central bank balance sheets | The total assets held by major central banks (Fed, ECB, BOJ, PBoC, etc.). | Expanding balance sheets = more liquidity for markets. |
| US treasury general account (TGA) | Cash reserves held by the US government. | High TGA = less liquidity. Low TGA = more liquidity. |
| Reverse repo (RRP) | Overnight lending between banks and the Fed. | High RRP = banks are parking cash (tight liquidity). Low RRP = banks are deploying cash into markets (looser liquidity). |
| M2 money supply | Total money (cash + deposits) circulating in the economy. | Higher M2 = stronger Bitcoin & stocks. Lower M2 = weaker markets. |
How to access the Global Liquidity Index in TradingView
TradingView user ingeforberg published the Global Liquidity Index in August 2023. You can use the indicator for free on TradingView by following these steps:
- Open TradingView and load any asset chart (bitcoin, S&P 500, TLT, etc.).
- Click on “Indicators” and search for “Global Liquidity Index.”
- Choose the indicator by ingeforberg and apply it to your chart.
Once added, you can customize the settings to include or exclude specific liquidity measures (e.g., central bank balance sheets, M2 money supply). That lets you test how different versions of the GLI line up against different markets.
For a full breakdown of how to use TradingView, download our free PDF guide below:
How to use the Global Liquidity Index
GLI tracks long-term liquidity trends. That makes it a macro indicator, not a short-term trading signal. It won’t tell you which way bitcoin or stocks go tomorrow. But it might help you gauge the bigger trend.
Let’s look at how GLI stacks up against four different asset classes. All charts below use the full GLI settings (every input box ticked).
Global Liquidity Index vs bitcoin
The chart below compares bitcoin with the Global Liquidity Index since 2019. It’s not an exact science, but there’s clearly been a positive relationship between the two over time. Both climbed through 2020 and 2021. Both pulled back in 2022. And both recovered through 2023 and 2024.
This relationship makes sense. Bitcoin is a global asset with a fixed 21 million coin supply. It tends to soak up extra liquidity when the taps open.
That said, bitcoin has pulled back recently while GLI kept climbing (grey circle on the chart). That’s a reminder: GLI is a guide, not a guarantee. Bitcoin moves on plenty of other drivers too, like regulation, sentiment, and on-chain flows.
Global Liquidity Index vs tech stocks (Nasdaq 100)
The next chart compares the Nasdaq 100 with the Global Liquidity Index. As with bitcoin, it’s not a perfect relationship, but the two have followed a similar pattern. When the economy is more liquid, more money tends to flow into tech stocks (and vice versa).
Tech companies lean heavily on cheap borrowing and investor risk appetite. Both tend to expand when global liquidity rises and there’s more money flowing through the system. So it makes sense that the Nasdaq rides the liquidity wave more than most.
Global Liquidity Index vs gold
The chart below compares gold with the Global Liquidity Index. Both trend higher over the long run, but the path isn’t smooth. Gold has its own drivers (real yields, dollar strength, geopolitics) that can pull it away from GLI for years at a time.
Gold went sideways from 2013 to 2019 while GLI climbed steadily. Then gold ripped from 2019 onwards, outpacing GLI in 2024 and 2025.
That’s because gold responds to more than just liquidity. Real yields, dollar strength, and geopolitical stress all move the gold price. So gold and GLI can drift apart for years before reconnecting.
Still, the long-term story is the same. More money in the system tends to lift gold over time.
Global Liquidity Index vs long-dated bonds (TLT)
Long-dated US Treasury bonds have had the weakest relationship with the Global Liquidity Index. TLT reacts mainly to US interest rate expectations, which only partly overlap with the wider liquidity picture. The iShares 20+Year Treasury Bond ETF (TLT) tracked GLI reasonably well through the 2010s. Then the relationship fell apart in 2020, and it hasn’t recovered since.
TLT mostly reacts to US-specific drivers: interest rate expectations, inflation expectations, and demand for long-dated US Treasuries. These overlap with global liquidity, but they don’t move in lockstep with it.
In 2022, the US Federal Reserve raised interest rates aggressively to fight inflation, and TLT crashed. Meanwhile, central banks in China and Japan kept their liquidity taps open. So GLI went one way while TLT went the other.
How to use the Global Liquidity Index in your own investing
The Global Liquidity Index is a macro lens, not a trading signal. Here’s how I use it:
As a big-picture trend gauge. When GLI is rising, there’s more money sloshing around the system, which can funnel into different investments. And when GLI is falling, the tide is going out. That usually shows up in markets eventually.
As a diversification reminder. The four charts above show that not every asset responds to liquidity the same way. That’s exactly why a diversified portfolio can smooth out the ride. Different assets pull the wagon at different times. I’ve written more on that in my bitcoin diversification guide.
As a sanity check, not a prediction. If bitcoin is rallying hard while GLI is flat or falling, that’s worth a second look. If stocks are grinding higher alongside rising liquidity, the trend has support. Use GLI to pressure-test what the rest of the market is telling you.
What GLI won’t do is tell you when to buy or sell. For that, you want technical analysis. Patterns, trendlines, support and resistance. GLI sets the weather. TA helps you pick your days.
Global Liquidity Index FAQs
What is the Global Liquidity Index? The Global Liquidity Index (GLI) is a TradingView indicator that measures total liquidity in the global financial system. It combines central bank balance sheets, money supply, the US Treasury General Account, and reverse repo operations into one line, shown in US dollar trillions.
How do I add the Global Liquidity Index on TradingView? Open any chart on TradingView, click “Indicators,” and search for “Global Liquidity Index.” Apply the indicator by user ingeforberg. You can then toggle the inputs to include or exclude specific liquidity measures.
Does bitcoin follow the Global Liquidity Index? Bitcoin has loosely tracked the Global Liquidity Index since 2019. The two usually rise and fall together, but the relationship isn’t perfect. Bitcoin also moves on regulation, sentiment, and on-chain flows, and can diverge from GLI for months at a time.
Is the Global Liquidity Index a leading or lagging indicator? The Global Liquidity Index works as a coincident to slightly leading macro indicator. It moves alongside the broader economy rather than predicting exact market turns. Use it to read the long-term trend, not to time short-term trades.
Which assets respond most to global liquidity? Tech stocks (Nasdaq 100) have the tightest relationship with the Global Liquidity Index. Bitcoin tracks it loosely. Gold trends in the same long-term direction but takes its own path. Long-dated US Treasury bonds respond more to US-specific drivers like interest rate expectations.
Key takeaways
- The Global Liquidity Index (GLI) tracks global liquidity across central bank balance sheets, money supply, and key US accounts.
- Rising GLI tends to support most asset prices. Falling GLI makes it harder for markets to climb.
- Bitcoin and the Nasdaq 100 have loosely followed GLI over time, though bitcoin has diverged recently.
- Gold trends in the same long-term direction as GLI but takes a different path.
- Long-dated bonds (TLT) have responded more to US interest rates than to global liquidity.
As usual, none of this is investment advice. If you liked this analysis, check out my free newsletter for how-to guides and investment insights across crypto, stocks, metals, and more.
This guide was updated in April 2026 with fresh charts and a new section on how GLI stacks up against different asset classes. Originally published March 2025.
Jonathan Hobbs, CFA
Founder of stopsaving.com
About the author: Jonathan Hobbs, CFA, is the author of four investment books and has over two decades of experience in financial markets. He has held investment roles at Morgan Stanley, HSBC, and M&G Investments. Jon was previously Lead Crypto Analyst at Finimize and once managed the investments for a start-up crypto and FX hedge fund. He currently works as a Senior Analyst at Leverage Shares. His market commentary has been featured in City AM, Cointelegraph, and Asharq Business Bloomberg.
StopSaving.com is Jon’s independent personal finance education site. Views expressed here are his own and do not represent those of the firms he works with.
