Despite Bear Market, Bitcoin Remains the King with Highest 2019 YTD Returns than Traditional Markets

Bitcoin is currently down about 80 percent from its all-time high (ATH) of $20,000 from December 2017. Throughout the last year and still in 2019, the leading cryptocurrency by market cap of $92 billion is in a bear market which saw its lowest yearly level at $3,200 in December 2018.

At the time of writing, the flagship cryptocurrency has been trading at about $5,276 level with 24-hours gains of 0.09 percent. However, in 2019 till date, BTC has surged over 41 percent as it went from $3,795 to well above $5k.

Despite being in the bear market, Bitcoin remains the king as it registers the highest gains than the traditional market.

Whether it’s oil, Nasdaq, S&P 500, gold, small-cap stock, emerging markets, commodity or any other market, Bitcoin leads with a good margin.

2019 Returns…
Bitcoin $BTC: +39%
Oil $USO: +38%
Nasdaq 100 $QQQ: +22%
S&P 500 $SPY: +17%
Small Caps $IWM: +17%
MLPs $AMLP: +16%
REITs $VNQ: +15%
EM $EEM: +14%
EAFE $EFA: +13%
Commodities $DBC: +12%
High Yield $HYG: +8%
Investment Grade $LQD: +6%
Bonds $AGG: +2%
Gold $GLD: -1%

— Charlie Bilello (@charliebilello) April 19, 2019

Gold Falling, Touches Four-Month Low

If we talk about gold, the raging risk-on sentiments are keeping the prices of yellow metal down and analysts are further worried that things could get even worse before they get better.

This week, gold saw a major sell-off as it dropped 1.4 percent, touching four-month low. However, better than expected retail sales are showing improved consumer sentiment, with best results since late 2017.

“The retail sales number sits within the general recent tone of data and has been a bit more positive after all the signs of weakness,”

said Capital Economics U.S. economist Andrew Hunter.

One of the factors that are weighing on gold prices is low volatility. However, the low-risk environment is unsustainable and can work in gold’s favor.

“Volatility across many assets classes is quite low at the moment. At the same time, equities are hovering just below all-time highs. So, the opportunity cost of holding gold is quite high at the moment. That suggests that money managers will likely stay away from the yellow metal until there is increased imputes to buy some gold for protection,”

TD Securities commodity strategist Daniel Ghali stated.

In Q4, increasing US stock market volatility was the primary bull driver for gold as the dollar rallied. Now the limited further downside for market volatility could eventually, be positive for the gold market.

Digital Gold: Next Bull Run To Be Massive

Meanwhile, digital gold is looking for the next rally that is expected to be several times bigger than the last one.

The short term sentiments are pointing towards a correction before Bitcoin rebounds. Currently, it is ranging between $5,000 to $5,200 which according to analysts is a good thing as it would mean good support while making an upward move and a stronger resistance on a downward move.

But in the long term, it is projected that the rally would be crazier than the last one that saw Bitcoin going from $750 to $20,000 in a year.

The last bull market was crypto’s first time on the global stage.

In late 16 the vast majority of the world had no idea what any of this was or what its potential is.

This time is different. Awareness is massively higher. That’s going to make reflexivity act that much crazier

— Travis Kling (@Travis_Kling) April 18, 2019

There has been a lot of Bitcoin price predictions for its next rally with each one more crazy than the last but each one is much higher than the last one we saw in 2017 for sure.