Bitcoin tends to outperform gold and stocks after global shocks, Mercado Bitcoin has found.
Bitcoin
The study, led by Rony Szuster, head of research for Latin American cryptocurrency platforms, looked at a 60-day period following economic or geopolitical shocks, such as the COVID-19 outbreak and U.S. tariff increases. Bitcoin outperformed gold and the S&P 500 in each period analyzed.
After the Trump administration announced sweeping tariffs in April last year, the price of Bitcoin soared 24% over the next 60 days. Gold rose 8% and the S&P 500 rose 4%.
A similar pattern was seen at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic in March 2020, when BTC rose 21% while other assets lagged.
Szuster warned that judging Bitcoin’s performance too quickly after the crisis could be misleading.
“It’s like watching the first few minutes of a movie and thinking you already know how it ends,” he said. “In moments like these, investors may sell positions to reduce risk or raise cash, and even defensive assets may decline.”
This is happening as investors struggle to secure liquidity, but Bitcoin continues to bounce back, the company said. According to Szuster, this pattern appears to be repeating itself in the current U.S.-Iran conflict. Of the three assets so far in positive territory, Bitcoin is the only one.
The data backs this up. Since the war began, the price of Bitcoin has risen more than 2.2%, from about $65,800 to $67,300 at the time of this writing. Gold, a traditional safe haven, fell about 11% in that time, while the S&P shed 4.4% of its value in its steepest monthly decline since 2022.
Despite the volatility, Bitcoin has been the best-performing asset over the past decade, he added.
Read more: As Bitcoin recently crashed to $60,000, they were the first to be warned, and now they are following.
