Crypto bulls are again watching from the sidelines as bearish trading continues and risk assets generally move broadly higher during the US trading session.
The standout performer on Monday was gold, which rose 2% to a new record high of $4,475 per ounce. ounces. Silver is higher by 1.6% and earlier hit its own fresh record of just below $70 a barrel. ounces.
Just after noon on the East Coast, the Nasdaq and S&P 500 are each ahead by 0.6%, and the US dollar index is lower by 0.3%.
After running above $90,000 during the Asian/European trading sessions, bitcoin has pulled closer to $89,000, still ahead over the past 24 hours, but continues to underperform most major asset classes.
Ether solana and also in the green on Monday, but they have also retreated from peak levels before the US opened for trade.
Artificial intelligence trading remains strong
A check of crypto-related stocks shows that bitcoin miners that have shifted business models to focus on AI infrastructure and high-performance computing are doing strongly better on Monday.
Helping sentiment in that sector was a deal for Alphabet ( GOOG ) to acquire AI infrastructure start-up Intersect for $4.75 billion. “The acquisition,” Alphabet said, “will enable more data center and manufacturing capacity to come online faster, while accelerating energy development and innovation.”
Hut 8 (HUT) is the leading gainer, up 17.5%. IREN (IREN), Cipher Mining (CIFR) and Bitfarms (BITF) are showing gains of 5%-10%.
In other crypto sectors, Circle (CRCL), Coinbase (COIN), Bullish (BLSH) and Galaxy Digital (GLXY) are ahead 2%-4%, and bitcoin treasury bellwether Strategy (MSTR) is up just 0.3%.
Bitcoin may not rise until gold cools
“I reiterate the point that bitcoin and crypto are unlikely to shine until this bull market in precious metals stops,” ByteTree analysts led by Charlie Morris and Shehriyar Ali said in a Monday report.
They pointed out that despite current trends, bitcoin has outperformed the metal sector over the past few years.
But silver with its ongoing parabolic rally has now almost matched BTC’s returns over the past eight years.
Read more: Why gold will beat Bitcoin in 2025: Liquidity, trading and confidence
