The precious yellow metal has hit a new all-time high while its digital equivalent still lags a long way behind.
Gold prices hit an all-time high of $4,491 per ounce on Monday, according to Gold Price, as investors continue to seek safe-haven assets. Analysts pointed to rising geopolitical tensions and softer monetary policy as key drivers of the surge, reported CBS News.
“The metals trade has been strong all year, and particularly for gold,” Bret Kenwell, an investment and options analyst at eToro, told the outlet before adding, “As its fundamentals remain intact, gold digested its recent rally to all-time highs quite well.”
Gold has gained a whopping 71% since the beginning of the year, which is remarkable for an asset that rarely moves by much.
Bitcoin Lags Far Behind
Comparatively, Bitcoin is down 5.7% since the beginning of this year as the divergence has widened, and investors are cooling to crypto.
Bitcoin is the WORST performing asset this year.
– Gold is up 65%– Silver is up 132%
Both at their ATHs.
While $BTC is down 5%.
BTC fair price is $155-215K now. Anything below is pure mispricing. pic.twitter.com/a7fqNlKeik
— Rekt Fencer (@rektfencer) December 22, 2025
However, analyst ‘Bull Theory’ pointed out that Bitcoin always lags gold prices but eventually catches up with the precious commodity, citing the 2017 and 2021 cycles. The same scenario is playing out this year with liquidity improving, Fed rate cuts, US Treasury buying T-bills, and global money supply at an all-time high.
“And the price action is matching the same pattern: Gold is already trending strongly. Bitcoin is still lagging,” they said.
“Gold is highly overbought right now, so we can expect some weakness in the coming weeks, and we can finally see money rotation from gold to BTC.”
To put it into perspective, the precious metal has added around $12 trillion in market capitalization this year alone, which is roughly seven times more than the entire Bitcoin market cap of $1.75 trillion, which has shrunk by around $100 billion since January 1.
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“It’s baffling how many people are going to be caught offside next year. We have real OGs genuinely expecting a 9-month bear market, and the majority are listening,” said analyst ‘Sykodelic’ on Tuesday.
Bitcoin has only pushed 70% above its previous peak so far this cycle, which isn’t even double, they added, echoing the solid fundamentals that other analysts have observed.
The asset had failed to break above $90,000 on Monday, falling back to $87,500 in the Tuesday morning Asian trading session.
