Bitcoin Price Holds Steady as Gold Falls and Silver Craters

Bitcoin held steady as gold and silver prices collapsed on Friday—one day after BTC and other crypto assets fell sharply while precious metals posted gains.

Gold has fallen nearly 9% on Friday to $4,877 per ounce, while silver has plunged 28% to $82 per ounce during the New York trading session. Compare that to Bitcoin, which has edged up 0.2% on the day to $83,873.

The CBOE Gold ETF Volatility Index, or GVZCLS, has surged to 46.02, which is the highest it’s been since the World Health Organization declared the COVID-19 outbreak a global pandemic in March 2020. And the Cboe Silver ETF Volatility Index peaked at 123.03 on Friday, which is the highest it’s ever been since it was launched in 2011.

The sudden move is likely a sign that traders have rapidly repriced expectations around interest rates and liquidity, a shift that tends to hit precious metals hardest. Gold and silver, which offer no yield, often come under pressure when traders anticipate tighter monetary policy or a stronger dollar.

The precious metals selloff arrives the same day President Donald Trump nominated former Federal Reserve governor Kevin Warsh to replace Fed Chairman Jerome Powell when his term ends in May.

Warsh has been a vocal critic of prolonged easy monetary policy and the Fed’s post-pandemic balance-sheet expansion, arguing that loose conditions helped fuel asset bubbles and inflation. His nomination set off a dollar rally. At the time of writing, the U.S. Dollar Index had climbed to 96.94, the highest it’s been since the start of the week.

Meanwhile, Bitcoin has ranged between about $82,000 and $84,000 on Friday afternoon, one day after falling from $88,000 to nearly $81,000 in a matter of hours. Bitcoin is down more than 6% on the week.

Earlier today, users on Myriad were equally split on whether Bitcoin would drop to $69,000 or climb back to $100,000 after being decidedly bullish for BTC over the past two months. But they’re growing bullish again as Bitcoin ticks back up, currently giving the asset 57.5% odds of rising to $100,000 rather than falling to $69,000.

But there’s still plenty of skepticism among crypto investors. Traders are still in  “Extreme Fear” mode, according to the Crypto Fear & Greed Index, which dropped 10 points to 16 in the past 24 hours. The index is now the lowest it’s been since the start of the year.

The Crypto Fear & Greed Index measures market volatility, momentum and trading volume, social media sentiment, Bitcoin dominance, and how terms like “Bitcoin” and “crypto” show up in Google Trends.