Key Takeaways
Peter Schiff declared bitcoin is in a long-term bear market after prices fell 22% over seven weeks.Gold futures also dropped below $3,900 an ounce, challenging its reputation as a safe-haven asset.Analysts and institutions like HSBC warn that interconnected markets and margin calls now drag gold down too.
Peter Schiff Preaches Gold During Bitcoin’s Downfall, But Neither Is Thriving
Peter Schiff, Chief Economist & Global Strategist at Europar and a known gold bug, offered his take on the recent hit that Bitcoin has taken, with prices falling below $69K.
On social media, Schiff stressed that bitcoin had reached levels seen in November 2021, pointing out that the prime cryptocurrency had turned bearish in the long term, with prices receding 22% over the past seven weeks.
“How many of you who owned Bitcoin back then expected it to be below the Nov. 2021 high more than five years later? Bitcoin is in a long-term bear market. The long-term trend is down,” Schiff stressed.
Furthermore, he highlighted that the downfall had no end in sight, calling it a “slow bleed with no indication of panic selling” or any widespread capitulation that might mark a short-term bottom, recommending a pivot to gold. He also referred to the average cost basis for investors in Bitcoin ETFs, pointing out that at today’s prices, it would render an 11% loss.
“Play it smart and sell now and buy gold instead,” Schiff declared.
Nonetheless, even Schiff’s alternative has failed to hold out well during the recent market turbulence, as futures for the precious metal fell below $3,900 per troy ounce on Friday, after the market kept suffering from the tech fallout caused by the situation involving NVIDIA and the hotter-than-expected inflation numbers released.
Some analysts are warning gold might fall into a deeper price retracement, signaling $3.4K as the next resistance.
On social media, FFTT Founder and President Luke Grome stressed that the current gold price action was scary.
“Gold’s price action should scare the absolute daylights out of investors. It is telling us something really wicked this way comes. If you’re not [scared by gold’s price action], you’re not paying attention,” he assessed.
In October, when gold also touched similar numbers, Schiff pinned this kind of downtrend on liquidity problems that can migrate to broader markets before. Nonetheless, he has also called it “an unexpected gift” for investors to buy more gold at lower prices.
As gold continues to drop, financial giants like HSBC are now questioning the commodity’s role as a hedge against volatility, at least in short-term scenarios. In a report issued in October, the institution argued that in an interconnected financial world, gold cannot be isolated from pressures linked to the wider stock market. “With leveraged capital crowded into gold, tumbling stocks trigger margin calls that force investors to unwind positions to raise cash,” it declared.
