Gold Strengthens Against Bitcoin: Institutional Investors on the Defensive

In the last week, gold has outperformed Bitcoin by 20%, reshaping investors' preferences for "store of value" assets. The options market indicates that investors are seeking protection against macroeconomic uncertainties. According to Glassnode data, the short-term volatility of Bitcoin has significantly increased during this period.

Recently, short-term options have been trading at 50 "vol" levels. This increase shows that investors are willing to pay higher premiums to protect against sudden price declines. It has been observed that the Bitcoin options curve (skew) behaves similarly to macro assets, and it has been recorded that put options are still more expensive. This clearly indicates that the market is in a defensive position.

However, a balanced trend is observed in the trading flows. While some investors tend to move their current protection strategies to lower levels, others are selling volatility, and some are still evaluating the upward call options that are still considered cheap. As the year comes to a close, although there is a decrease in the number of investors taking bullish positions, analysts indicate that selling "put spreads" for November remains appealing — of course, this applies to investors who can take on risk.

Investors are advised to carefully monitor this performance gap between gold and Bitcoin and the dynamics in the options market. As long as macroeconomic uncertainties persist, gold is expected to stand out as a store of value asset.