Bitcoin vs. Gold: which has been more of a safe-haven asset in 2020?

[john_cm]

with barely 6 months into the year, 2020 has been dramatic and very eventful with the stock market slump, march 12 Bitcoin sell-off, oil price trading in the negative, etc. From the investment perspective, taking YTD Bitcoin and Gold performance amidst this ongoing pandemic which asset has upheld the safe-haven narrative between gold and Bitcoin?

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[Barnabe]

with barely 6 months into the year, 2020 has been dramatic and very eventful with the stock market slump, march 12 Bitcoin sell-off, oil price trading in the negative, etc. From the investment perspective, taking YTD Bitcoin and Gold performance amidst this ongoing pandemic which asset has upheld the safe-haven narrative between gold and Bitcoin?

IMO gold will always be safer in the long run because people have more trust in it. Gold has much less volatility than bitcoi. If you are strictly talking about safety, because of that lower volatility gold is safer. The downside is that its value won't change much in the very long term. Bitcoin is still a young asset and has a lot of potential, it is less safe, but has much higher returns possibilities.

[casperBGD]

think that for a moment, you can not compare the two, gold is a well established safe-haven for heavy investors, and bringing few months analysis would not change that
BTC did not prove stability, but provided better return in this period, more stability is needed for BTC to be perceived as safe haven for big and institutional investors

[john_cm]

think that for a moment, you can not compare the two, gold is a well established safe-haven for heavy investors, and bringing few months analysis would not change that
BTC did not prove stability, but provided better return in this period, more stability is needed for BTC to be perceived as safe haven for big and institutional investors

Iterating Bitcoin performance for the past years, base on those finding, don't you think should Bitcoin get established, it could be more of a safe haven asset than gold?

[plvbob0070]

I will agree with @barnabe, if it's about security money for long-term, gold is definitely safer than bitcoin. I personally think that choosing between the two is based on what is your purpose of investing. Within just half a year, a lot of unexpected things already happened like this pandemic. And we are still not sure what will happen next, so if you are planning on a long-run investment just to secure funds, for me it's gold. But if you will be investing for the purpose of potential profit, bitcoin is better because of its volatility.

I think this topic of which is better as a safe haven has been discussed here in the forum for a lot of time. But for me, it's really not necessary to compare Bitcoin and gold because they are different from each other. The answer to this will still vary from different perspectives

[Upgrade00]

Bitcoin is not a hedge fund. Infact it's description as an asset class is disputed by a number of financial institutions. Sone view it as a digital cash, some even refer to it as a speculative asset. Gold is an established asset which has been in existence for thousands of years. Bitcoin is an emerging digital currency, there is no direct comparison that can be made between both.

It's impossible to tell what Bitcoin would be in 10-50 years from now, but until it has become fully integrated into the global financial sector, it would still have different perspectives.

[hatshepsut93]

I dunno, maybe the asset that didn't crash by 60% when the stock market crashed? It's a no-brainer to say that Bitcoin is not a safe haven when the data clearly demonstrates so. Even though Bitcoin has already recovered, the fact that it fell so hard clearly shows that it's not resistant to the influence of traditional markets. Gold also reacted negatively to the initial covid-19 panic, but that fall was tiny compared to Bitcoin, and recently it performed quite well and the price is higher than pre-crash, which suggests that it's a pretty good safe haven.

[Barnabe]

I dunno, maybe the asset that didn't crash by 60% when the stock market crashed? It's a no-brainer to say that Bitcoin is not a safe haven when the data clearly demonstrates so. Even though Bitcoin has already recovered, the fact that it fell so hard clearly shows that it's not resistant to the influence of traditional markets. Gold also reacted negatively to the initial covid-19 panic, but that fall was tiny compared to Bitcoin, and recently it performed quite well and the price is higher than pre-crash, which suggests that it's a pretty good safe haven.

It quite strange that gold went down with markets in March. Since it is de facto a safen heaven, I would have expected that it went up since people were selling stocks and had negative perspectives (they should have bought gold).

[Lucius]

It quite strange that gold went down with markets in March. Since it is de facto a safen heaven, I would have expected that it went up since people were selling stocks and had negative perspectives (they should have bought gold).

So is there anything we can consider the perfect safe haven? Gold is only part of the global value system, everything is connected and reacts to different influences, as in this case it was with a pandemic. What is really important in the whole story is the fact that falls of this type are something that is always possible, but also that the losses are not permanent, but only momentary. If you hold BTC or gold you didn’t lose anything if you didn’t sell, and as some others have already said, it’s just a matter of how we perceive our investment.

In last 30 years price of gold is increased by 280%, and it is also interesting that same percentage is for the last 15 years. So we had relatively constant and steady growth, which is the most important thing for some investors. On the other hand, Bitcoin has grown by as much as 7000% since 2013 (data from CMC). It should also be noted that stocks and bonds have outperformed gold over a 30-year period.

[Sanugarid]

I will agree with @barnabe, if it's about security money for long-term, gold is definitely safer than bitcoin. I personally think that choosing between the two is based on what is your purpose of investing. Within just half a year, a lot of unexpected things already happened like this pandemic. And we are still not sure what will happen next, so if you are planning on a long-run investment just to secure funds, for me it's gold. But if you will be investing for the purpose of potential profit, bitcoin is better because of its volatility.

I don't why we keep comparing these two when we can just understand the fact that gold is not bitcoin, bitcoin is not gold and will never be it. Now asking about asset safety, then it should be gold and not bitcoin simply because the value of bitcoin is volatile that should be enough basis to call it a risky asset. Then we have gold that we have been using as a storage of value for ages, backing nation's wealth with it, creating precious jewelry that costs thousands. Would that not be enough to call an end to this discussion?

I think this topic of which is better as a safe haven has been discussed here in the forum for a lot of time. But for me, it's really not necessary to compare Bitcoin and gold because they are different from each other. The answer to this will still vary from different perspectives

My very point. The thing is they are comparing bitcoin to gold is because of the price, but they are disregarding the quantity of each.

It is very simple, if you want to have a volatile asset where you can gain in a short time possible then go with risky asset, do the opposite otherwise.

[20kevin20]

The Gold market is around (or more than) $10T. Bitcoin's is under $180B at the time of writing this reply, so we're looking at a >50x difference. 50x is a lot when it comes to how easy you can manipulate the market. Being used in so many industries around the world, Gold is much harder to destabilize than BTC which helps Bitcoin's volatility continue.

Bitcoin might be volatile right now and might've crashed once stocks fell too, but why do we always forget that BTC is still a little kid compared to Gold's centuries of history? Let's be honest, none of us knew what's going to happen when Bitcoin fell a few months ago. We do not have enough history data to know.

So whether it's a "safe haven" or not is still something that remains to be seen. Too early to ask imo.

[hatshepsut93]

It quite strange that gold went down with markets in March. Since it is de facto a safen heaven, I would have expected that it went up since people were selling stocks and had negative perspectives (they should have bought gold).

I don't think it's that strange, just because stocks fell doesn't mean those money were invested in gold, the strategy was to cash out your investments and wait, and gold wasn't spared either, but losing 3% is not really that big of a hit compared to what happened with stocks and crypto. So, gold clearly outperformed those assets. And now that money printer went brrr, investors started considering gold and caused it to rally.

[Latviand]

I dunno, maybe the asset that didn't crash by 60% when the stock market crashed? It's a no-brainer to say that Bitcoin is not a safe haven when the data clearly demonstrates so. Even though Bitcoin has already recovered, the fact that it fell so hard clearly shows that it's not resistant to the influence of traditional markets. Gold also reacted negatively to the initial covid-19 panic, but that fall was tiny compared to Bitcoin, and recently it performed quite well and the price is higher than pre-crash, which suggests that it's a pretty good safe haven.

It quite strange that gold went down with markets in March. Since it is de facto a safen heaven, I would have expected that it went up since people were selling stocks and had negative perspectives (they should have bought gold).

Gold is really much better if you're thinking about the long-term investment, people are holding bitcoin because our technology is constantly advancing and people are really adaptive to it. But there are still people who find gold as the best source of profit no matter how long you hold it because its price can really be preserved and increase. In bitcoin, you need to manipulate it depending on the market because it is only for a short-term investment, but it still depends on the person who control his bitcoin. If you are knowledgeable about the market and you know when to perform transactions in bitcoin then it is more beneficial to you.

[BitcoinTurk]

Although Bitcoin seems to be the better option when we consider it as a potential for earnings, unfortunately, gold should be preferred for short and medium term investments.  The reason I think so is because people see the old investment habits and gold as a safe haven.  For this reason, I think that investors who adapt in the old train will prefer gold and therefore gold will be a more logical choice.  To mention about my personal opinion, my preference will be Bitcoin in the long term.

[bitgolden]

with barely 6 months into the year, 2020 has been dramatic and very eventful with the stock market slump, march 12 Bitcoin sell-off, oil price trading in the negative, etc. From the investment perspective, taking YTD Bitcoin and Gold performance amidst this ongoing pandemic which asset has upheld the safe-haven narrative between gold and Bitcoin?

Safer is definitely the key here, if you are looking for the safer option bitcoin was never safe and will never be safe, you can buy gold and keep it for 500 years and it will still worth something. Both because people all over the world use it for store of value and give it a "get gold and put it on safe" type of vibe but also it is scarce in the world as well, there is no unlimited amount of gold in the world.

The only thing that could change all of this would be humans starting to explore space and actually find a way to mine gold somewhere else. If one day that happens, we will have abundant amount of gold and that is why its not really anytime soon, not in 2020 neither but could be in the future. Until that happens bitcoin is profitable and I would pick bitcoin but gold is definitely safer.

[john_cm]

The Gold market is around (or more than) $10T. Bitcoin's is under $180B at the time of writing this reply, so we're looking at a >50x difference. 50x is a lot when it comes to how easy you can manipulate the market. Being used in so many industries around the world, Gold is much harder to destabilize than BTC which helps Bitcoin's volatility continue.

Bitcoin might be volatile right now and might've crashed once stocks fell too, but why do we always forget that BTC is still a little kid compared to Gold's centuries of history? Let's be honest, none of us knew what's going to happen when Bitcoin fell a few months ago. We do not have enough history data to know.

So whether it's a "safe haven" or not is still something that remains to be seen. Too early to ask imo.

It will be interesting to see how this plays out in the coming years.

[fiulpro]

When we talk about performance wise , we can very easily see who is performing well in 2020 , no wonder it's Bitcoins.
Gold have a bigger market and we already know how it's price does not bulge even in the bad times.
According to a report published in March *The Gold was on the path to show continuous growth and was already 17% up*
Now if we follow up the recent news one would be able to see how the price of Gold is getting down recently and at the same time due to no available jobs present , people cannot invest and we might have to wait a long time for the recovery of the same.

When we are talking about Bitcoins , 2020 has been a great year for Bitcoins as a whole and one can easily see the reports and future predictions , which are really hopeful . Therefore I do believe Bitcoins has been more of a safe heaven in 2020 and ofcourse the best performing asset.
I do think safety comes with assurance that your investments will grow over time ~ therefore I do believe even though Gold Might be performing good in the upcoming days , the growth of Bitcoins is unmatched.

[Negotiation]

I think when it comes to comparing between gold and bitcoin I would choose bitcoin because it is possible to get more return on long term investment in bitcoin That is not possible in the case of gold This is a much better year for bitcoin investing. The country's economy has been hampered by the virus the gold market has collapsed due to everything being shut down, and demand has fallen sharply But the price of Bitcoin is rising because business is closed and everyone is investing in Bitcoin and trying to overcome the financial crisis In that case, bitcoin is more effective than gold.

[maydna]

If you are afraid of the fluctuated of bitcoin price, then you can choose gold as your investment because gold will be more stable than bitcoin, and the price of gold will not too fluctuated than bitcoin price. But the increase in the gold price will not as high as bitcoin because right now, the gold price seems stable now.

If you can accept the risk of bitcoin price will change, you can pick bitcoin for the investment, and you can hold it for a long time, and perhaps, you can hold it until the next year. In that time, bitcoin can increase so high, and perhaps, you will see bitcoin price will be $20k again so if you sell your bitcoin, you will make a lot of money.

But if you have much money, then I suggest you invest in bitcoin and gold because both bitcoin and gold will be the best investment this year. So you can have a chance to make a profit from bitcoin and gold at the same time. You can sell bitcoin and gold if you need money, and I think that your initial money will also increase.

[exstasie]

with barely 6 months into the year, 2020 has been dramatic and very eventful with the stock market slump, march 12 Bitcoin sell-off, oil price trading in the negative, etc. From the investment perspective, taking YTD Bitcoin and Gold performance amidst this ongoing pandemic which asset has upheld the safe-haven narrative between gold and Bitcoin?

In YTD terms, BTC has definitely performed better, up 35% to gold's 11% increase.

In terms of being a safe haven, gold clearly held much better in the March crash. From high to low it only declined 15%. BTC fell closer to 60%, depending where you measure from.

BTC obviously has more of a risk asset profile.