Bitcoin drops down, dollar weakens while gold touches another ATH

After the Federal Reserve announced Wednesday night that long-term interest rates would remain unchanged in the short term, Bitcoin reacted with a further fall, the US dollar with further weakening (also because of the threat of yet another government shutdown), and gold with yet another new record high.

Microsoft’s poor results last night only exacerbated the decline of Bitcoin as it also drove down the tech sector.

At the time of writing, Bitcoin is trading for $82,700.

Blow-off top

Meanwhile, gold was the buzzword in January. The precious metal rose 27% in one month, a figure normally only seen from a memecoin. At the time of writing, prices on some trading platforms were already exceeding $5,600 per ounce.

Several factors are contributing to gold’s rally, including geopolitical tensions, a weaker US dollar and growing speculation that central banks, including the Federal Reserve, may engage in further monetary easing (in other words, printing more and more fiat currency).

Watch out for a blow-off top at this point, which could be accompanied by a sharp drop on the gold chart.

Altcoins

Bitcoin, consistently seen as a hedge against currency depreciation in recent years, has been unable to keep pace with gold’s rise and is now trading some 30% below its October peak, while precious metals and most Western stock prices remain near record highs.

Some altcoins, however, continued to perform well. Hyperliquid, Canton, and Pump.fun, in particular, had a decent week.