Bitcoin Even as traditional safe-haven assets reach historic milestones, they are struggling to find footing near $88,000.
The leading cryptocurrency has fallen 2.1% in the past 24 hours and is currently trading at just under $88,000, according to data from price aggregation firm CoinGecko. In stark contrast, gold peaked at $5,602 an ounce on Thursday and has since rebounded slightly.
At the same time, the dollar index (DXY) of the US dollar against a basket of major currencies continued to decline throughout the year, hitting a low of 96.38 as of Thursday.
Since assets are typically priced in US dollars, a collapse in the dollar index should logically increase the valuation of risky and safe assets. However, Bitcoin’s stagnation in 2026 and sustained downward trend in the final quarter of the previous year confused investors.
“Bitcoin’s recent stagnation reflects a market that still trades macro first and narrative second,” said Wenny Kai, chief operating officer at SynFutures. decryption.
While gold and commodities attract capital flows as traditional havens, Bitcoin is currently behaving more like a “high-beta risk asset” that moves in tandem with speculative stocks than a direct hedge against a weak dollar, Cai said.
Gold vs. Bitcoin
The divergence between gold and Bitcoin highlights the market’s perception of long-standing inflation hedging and the digital gold story, which is less than 20 years old.
When macroeconomic and policy concerns rise, such as during the Japanese bond crisis and the New York Fed rate check event, as I noted in a previous article, “old money” is usually the first to flow into the most established exit ramps. decryption Report.
“Gold is a mature and established asset and the signals it sends are unmistakable,” said Ben Kaeslin, chief marketing officer at South African cryptocurrency exchange VALR. decryption.
He explained that both assets stand to benefit as more local currencies face pressure and the dollar weakens. “The massive acceleration in gold followed by significant profit-taking is enough to trigger a significant rally in Bitcoin,” Keislin added.
Still, gold’s rise isn’t bad news for Bitcoin, nor is consolidation among the top cryptocurrencies.
This “gold first” move is seen as a leading indicator for Bitcoin by some analysts, who argue that large flows into bullion are often preceded by rotation into digital assets as investors seek alternatives to government-issued fiat currencies.
Cryptocurrency sentiment remains positive
Eric He, community angel officer and risk control advisor at LBank, argued that Bitcoin is “not stalling, but rather coiling for its next explosive rally,” suggesting that the cryptocurrency is “poised to reclaim its status as digital gold as adoption and transparency accelerate.”
“Amid the erosion of fiat currencies, short-term macroeconomics favors physical havens,” he said, adding, “But this is not a failure of theory.”
Despite the short-term stall, market participants remain largely bullish about Bitcoin’s long-term trajectory. Users of Myriad, a prediction market owned by decryption’s parent company Dastan predicts a 65% chance that Bitcoin’s next big move will be a rally toward the $100,000 milestone, rather than a crash to $69,000.
