There's a mountain of greed manifesting itself in the market, according to Federated Investors portfolio manager Steve Chiavarone.
But he says you won't find it in stocks — it's in cryptocurrencies.
"It's the first sign of greed since the Great Recession," Chiavarone said this week on CNBC's "Trading Nation." "It's indicative of rising risk appetites which will drive equity markets higher almost regardless of what happens with bitcoin."
Bitcoin is such a contentious emerging asset, Chiavarone recently felt compelled to publish a market memo on it, because he was fielding so many questions from clients and advisors.
"Investors wanted to be on the roller coaster in the '90s. They wanted high returns. They didn't mind volatility," Chiavarone said.
"The Great Recession put the fear in a lot of folks and they wanted to go on the merry-go-round Folks really want to get on that risk trade," he added.
Chiavarone, who is a bull on the actual blockchain technology, believes there's a good chance bitcoin will suffer the same fate as Pets.com — one of the biggest dotcom bubble busts of the high-flying 90s, before tech stocks crashed.
Bitcoin bear, stock market bull
However, that doesn't mean a monster crypto drop would send the stock market into a tailspin.
According to Chiavarone, stocks are on solid ground. He cites the impact from President Donald Trump's tax reform package and strong economic fundamentals.
"When you look at pick-up in economic growth, the full impact of the tax reform boost, [and] the earnings number, you've got to pull your target up to match it," Chiavarone said. "A lot of strategists falling over themselves to try to figure out what that right earnings number is."
Chiavarone predicts the Index will end the year around 3100 — a 10 percent jump from current levels.
