In brief
- Gold’s price fell to a monthly low of $3,185 per ounce on Wednesday.
- Bitcoin’s price has spiked amid cooling trade tensions between the U.S. and China.
- Gold has still outperformed Bitcoin, so far this year.
The price of gold fell to a monthly low on Wednesday, underscoring investors’ increased appetite for risk-on assets like Bitcoin amid cooling trade tensions between the U.S. and China.
Gold’s price has fallen 9% to $3,185 per ounce, from an all-time high of $3,500 in mid-April, according to Trading Economics. Over the same period of time, Bitcoin’s price has surged 17% to $103,600 from $88,200, according to CoinGecko data.
The divergence between gold and Bitcoin has grown more apparent as the U.S. and China have held productive trade negotiations, offering investors a reprieve from the tariff tit-for-tat. Earlier this year, escalating trade tension had global markets spiraling for weeks.
On Monday, the U.S. said it would effectively lower levies on Chinese imports from from 145% to 30%. And China said it would slash tariffs on American goods from 125% to 10%. The revisions, which are set to last 90 days, took effect on Wednesday, according to a joint statement.
According to economist and long-time Bitcoin critic Peter Schiff, gold has faced several selloffs amid its latest rally, which typically happen early in the U.S. trading session. In a post on X, formerly Twitter, he described it as a sign of gold “moving from U.S. to foreign ownership.”
Bitcoin has shown strength against U.S. stocks during President Donald Trump’s trade war. But gold has still outperformed the original cryptocurrency so far this year, with Bitcoin climbing around 10% and gold gaining 23% since January.
Analysts say that Bitcoin’s portrayal as a “safe haven” asset has been bolstered recently by growing U.S. dollar debasement concerns and a weaker greenback. Similar factors may be at play for gold, with de-escalation between the U.S. and China now taking center stage.
In April, Chinese gold exchange-traded funds posted their strongest month on record, attracting $6.4 billion, according to Ray Jia, head of China research at trade association World Gold Council. In research published on Wednesday, he wrote that the “unprecedented demand surge was mainly driven by the attractive local gold price performance, [and] US-China trade war concerns.”
Jia noted that “inflows slowed at the start of May,” and demand may cool short-term alongside further deescalation in trade tension between the U.S. and China. Still, lingering economic and geopolitical risks are among factors that could anchor demand for gold long term, he added.
Spot Bitcoin ETFs faced dramatic outflows earlier this year, but a reversal has come with a new high water mark. On Tuesday, net inflows exceeded $41 billion since their Wall Street debut last year, a new all-time peak for inflows.
Edited by Stacy Elliott.
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