tl;dr
Gold has reached new record highs, exceeding $3,047 per ounce, due to geopolitical tension, while Bitcoin has dropped sharply, down nearly 3% in the past 24 hours and over 15% in the past month. This contrasts with the belief that Bitcoin behaves like "digital gold." The drop is attributed to Presid...
Gold has reached new record highs, exceeding $3,047 per ounce, due to geopolitical tension, while Bitcoin has dropped sharply, down nearly 3% in the past 24 hours and over 15% in the past month. This contrasts with the belief that Bitcoin behaves like "digital gold."
The drop is attributed to President Trump's trade policy and macroeconomic uncertainty affecting U.S. equities, particularly tech stocks. Despite Trump's pro-crypto stance, his unpredictable tariff announcements have led to a sell-off of "risk-on" assets, including Bitcoin and top Nasdaq-listed tech stocks.
While Bitcoin's price historically moved in line with gold, its current behavior resembles a tech stock, with analysts suggesting that it needs time to mature into a more predictable asset. Gold has continued to soar to new highs while Bitcoin has dropped sharply over the past month—all while geopolitical risk and President Trump's aggressive new trade policy rock financial markets.
Despite often being described as a form of "digital gold," Bitcoin hasn't been trading much like the real thing. Instead, it's trading in line with U.S. equities—especially tech stocks—as macroeconomic uncertainty spooks traders.
Gold, which has traditionally held a status as the safe-haven asset, on Tuesday hit a new record price above $3,047 per ounce following news that Israel had broken its ceasefire with Hamas. By contrast, Bitcoin is down by nearly 3% over the past 24 hours, CoinGecko data shows. And over the past month, the asset has nosedived by more than 15%. Bitcoin is currently trading at $81,967 a coin, nearly 25% below the all-time high mark of $108,786 it hit the day President Trump was inaugurated.
The new commander in chief campaigned on helping the digital asset industry and slashing regulations. And while the president has stuck to his promises so far—signing an executive order to establish a strategic Bitcoin reserve, among other pro-crypto moves—the unpredictable announcements of tariffs on major trading partners frightened traders and led to a sell-off of "risk-on" assets, with Bitcoin and top Nasdaq-listed tech stocks included.
Bitcoin's price has in the past moved in line with gold. During the banking crisis of 2023, the biggest cryptocurrency's correlation with tech stocks dropped, and it started to move with the precious metal as speculators flocked to store-of-value investments. Though that may not be the case today, Bloomberg ETF analyst Eric Balchunas told Decrypt that the asset still needs time to mature into something with more predictable market movements. "It's too young to be settled down," he said. "Because it's got all this potential growth baked into it, I think it just acts like a tech stock."
Will the orange coin eventually reach its potential as the "digital gold" its proponents describe it as? At least for now, they're still acting like very different assets.