Bitcoin, Ethereum Rise as Gold Sinks Following Record Highs—Here's Why

Bitcoin and Ethereum rose on Tuesday as gold’s price headed toward its biggest daily drop in over a decade, indicating renewed appetite for risk-taking among investors.

Bitcoin was recently trading around $112,000, a 1% increase over the past day, according to CoinGecko. The largest crypto by market capitalization climbed as high as $114,000 earlier in the day. Ethereum, the second largest crypto by market value, was trading at about $4,000, a 0.7% gain over the same period of time. Ethereum traded as high as $4,100 earlier Tuesday.

Tuesday’s crypto rise came as gold fell 5.5% to $4,118 per ounce, according to Trading Economics. After the precious metal surged to a record of $4,382 per ounce on Monday, that represented its biggest daily drop since April 2013.

Despite his recent tariff threats, U.S. President Donald Trump said earlier this week that he thinks China is open to “a really fair and really great trade deal,” per Bloomberg. On Tuesday, the outlet reported that Trump is still eager to meet with China’s Xi Jinping.

Plummeting gold prices reflect easing geopolitical tensions, according to Jake Ostrovskis, head of OTC trading at market maker Wintermute. He told Decrypt it’s plausible that Tuesday’s move also stems from fast money unwinding overextended long positions.

“Bitcoin seems to be capitalizing on this shift, with mercenary capital finding relative value,” he told Decrypt. “One day doesn’t make a trend, but it’s an interesting narrative to keep an eye on.”

Carlos Guzman, a research analyst at market maker GSR, told Decrypt that crypto prices were likely buoyed by strong earning results on Wall Street. General Motors, for example, raised guidance on reduced tariff exposure for the automaker.

“We’re off to a strong start for earnings season,” he said.

The Bureau of Labor Statistics is scheduled to release the latest inflation figures on Friday. Economists expect the Consumer Price index to show a 3.1% increase in the 12 months through September, indicating that inflation is increasing.

Still, Guzman said recent remarks from Federal Reserve officials suggest the central bank is focused on preserving the labor market’s health, and as a result, is likely to cut interest rates.

“As long as [CPI] comes in within expectations, it should be a huge market mover.” he said, noting that risk assets like stocks and crypto tend to benefit from cheaper borrowing costs. “If it is significantly higher than expectations, I do think that’ll be pretty bearish.”

Guzman added that narratives around the debasement of the U.S. dollar have fueled interest in gold, to the extent that the trade appeared “pretty crowded.” Tuesday’s drop in gold prices looked more like a technical correction than anything else, he added.

The sentiment was echoed by David Hernandez, a crypto investment strategist at 21Shares, an issuer of crypto-focused exchange-traded products. The split between Bitcoin and gold reflects investors repositioning on hopes of dovish Fed policy.

“The divergence signals a tactical rotation, not a structural regime change: capital moving from an overbought safe haven into higher-risk assets with more upside,” he said. “Easing U.S.-China tensions briefly reduced the urgency for safe-haven exposure.” 

Some influential voices on Crypto Twitter were eager to suggest that the precious metal’s price had peaked on Tuesday, including Zion Thomas, who is better known online at Ansem. “Finally,” Thomas said on X, in reference to a chart showing Bitcoin up and gold down.

Despite saying that Bitcoin’s value would eventually surpass gold’s $28.69 trillion market cap on Monday, Binance co-founder and former CEO Changpeng Zhao indicated that the precious metal will likely serve as an alternative store of value for years to come.

“Gold won’t go to zero,” he said on X. “But Bitcoin is better.”