Bitcoin has dropped 55% against gold since its December 2024 peak, highlighting its ongoing underperformance and challenging its reputation as “digital gold.”
Gold is approaching record highs just below $4,900 per ounce, up roughly 12% year-to-date, while bitcoin remains under $89,000 and has delivered only modest gains so far this year.
The divergence extends across longer time frames. Over five years, gold has risen about 160%, slightly outpacing bitcoin’s 150% gain.
The BTC-to-gold ratio currently sits near 18.46, roughly 17% below its 200-week moving average (WMA) of 21.90, which tracks the long-term trend.
During the 2022 bear market, the ratio fell more than 30% below the 200WMA and remained beneath it for over a year. The current decline, which began in November, suggests the ratio could remain below the 200WMA until late 2026 if historical patterns hold.
The ratio peaked at 40.9 in December 2024, with bitcoin subsequently losing about 55% of its value relative to gold. Previous cycles saw even deeper drops, including a 77% decline in 2022 and an 84% fall during the 2017–2018 cycle.
