Bitcoin (BTC) hovers under $85,000, tracking the behavior of stock indexes and the tech sector. The leading coin decoupled sharply from gold in the past few weeks, as the precious metal set new price records.
Bitcoin decoupled sharply from gold, signaling its status as a store of value may be vulnerable to short-term fluctuations and aggressive trading. Gold set a series of new records, gaining attention from mainstream markets, while BTC continued its series of aggressive derivative trading with some spot selling pressure.
The recent decoupling of BTC and gold made even maximalists question why the leading crypto coin was not seen as digital gold.
The fact that gold is soaring and a superior form of gold, the digital gold Bitcoin is dumping is something I will never understand.
I know Bitcoin trades like a tech stock, but I’ll never be able to understand the reasoning for it.
— WhalePanda (@WhalePanda) March 13, 2025
The one advantage of BTC is that it is capable of rallying more sharply and delivering higher returns for early investors. However, gold also shows it is not forgotten during periods of uncertainty.
Gold crossed $20 trillion in total market capitalization. At this valuation, BTC would have to command a price of $1M per coin, a valuation that seems unrealistic during the current market downturn. Despite the initially sluggish gold appreciation compared to BTC rallies, the metal has in fact outperformed BTC and given more short-term stability.
Gold reaches new price records on demand for store of value
Gold traded at $2,983.36 after the rapid expansion from March 10 onward. Geopolitical insecurity and rising demand extended gold’s gains to 34% for the past year, with even more accelerated gains in the past three months. Gold may also be vulnerable to selling and pressure from the holders of paper contracts, but for now, the market retains its momentum.
BTC is also capable of rapid rallies, but most of the bullish sentiment has dissipated. BTC is still widely held for the long term, but new buying does not reflect the demand for an asset to serve as a secure reserve.
BTC faced downward pressure and dipped to $80,804.56 again, erasing the previous gains above $84,000. BTC remains pressured by panic sellers near the lows, as well as large daily long liquidations.
Demand for gold has spilled over to silver, trading over $34 per ounce. Silver has not yet reached its previous all-time highs of over $46 per ounce, but this time around, the rally has more consistent trading volumes.
BTC and gold lose correlation
During previous local price peaks, BTC reached moments when one coin could buy over 1,000 grams of gold. The recent gold rally erased that correlation, and BTC can now buy a little lower than 1,000 grams.
In the past month, BTC has been more closely correlated with S&P500 and NASDAQ than with gold. Historically, in some periods all assets move up or down together, but this time, gold stood out and once again approached the $3,000 level.
Gold is also showing signs of physical demand through the Comex vault, and the current rally is not speculative trading for paper contracts. The Comex vaults have reached a peak at 1,250 tonnes of physical gold delivered.
US-based demand is also bringing physical gold into the USA from European vaults, creating an additional sense of scarcity.
At the same time, the talk of a crypto strategic reserve has slowed down, as BTC shows there are still enough sellers to depress the price. In theory, BTC is more scarce per person compared to gold, yet easily available physical gold remains limited, raising the spot price.
The crypto space has attempted to offer tokenized gold. However, the available tokens are still a niche type of asset. Tokenized gold has a valuation of only $1.8B, with most of the value carried by Tether’s XAUT token.
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