Everything is for sale. Bitcoin has the least sales volume.
Gold prices fell for a ninth straight day to around $4,360 on Monday, the longest losing streak in years. Asian stocks fell for a third consecutive session and are heading into correction territory.
Bond yields climbed as a protracted war threatens to fuel inflation and force central banks to raise interest rates rather than cut them. S&P and European futures pointed to further losses. Brent crude edged higher to $113 a barrel, up more than 70% so far this year.
Bitcoin was trading at $68,316 on Monday morning, up 1.5% in the past 24 hours and down 6% for the week. Ethereum rose 2.7% to $2,059. XRP rose 2% to $1.38. Tron rose 0.3% to $0.309 and was the only major green stock with a weekly gain of 3.8%. BNB fell 1.2% to $627. Solana fell 2.5% to $86.54. Dogecoin fell 1.7% to $0.09 and was down 7.4% for the week, making it the worst-performing major currency.
The numbers are ugly every week. Gold, an asset that is supposed to outperform amid geopolitical chaos, is down about 18% from its recent highs. Asian stock markets are entering a correction phase. Bitcoin is down 6% for the week but is still trading above the $66,000 bottom it has held above during every war-driven sell-off since February 28.
“The rise in gold and the plunge in Bitcoin is more structural than market-based,” said Alexander Blume, CEO of Two Prime, an SEC-registered investment advisory firm. “China and other countries have been systematically buying gold as part of a broader effort to decouple from Western markets and the U.S. dollar.” That buying has reversed as the conflict has intensified and liquidity has become more important than security.
Blume noted that Bitcoin’s price and derivatives markets are “both doing quite well” against a macro backdrop, and said Two Prime is positioned to “increase funding and futures rates in the coming weeks and months,” effectively betting on a contrarian view that Bitcoin’s surprise rally is more likely than the market anticipates.
Trump’s 48-hour ultimatum issued on Saturday is set to expire on Monday night and will “strike and destroy” Iran’s power plants if the Strait of Hormuz is not reopened. Iran responded by saying any such attack would trigger an indefinite closure of the waterway and retaliatory strikes against U.S. and Israeli energy infrastructure throughout the region.
At the same time, Goldman Sachs raised its full-year Brent crude oil price forecast from $77 to $85 and WTI crude oil price forecast from $72 to $79, describing the Hormuz crude oil supply disruption as “the largest supply shock in the history of the global crude oil market.”