Bitcoin News Today: Investors Flee Gold as Trade Thaw Boosts Risk Appetite, Bitcoin ETFs Trail

Gold sank below $4,000 for the first time since mid-October, hitting a daily low of $3,971, as easing U.S.-China trade tensions reduced demand for safe-haven assets, according to an FXStreet report. The decline followed a surprise framework agreement between U.S. and Chinese officials in Malaysia, which included delayed rare earth export curbs and tariff reductions, according to a Capital analysis. Gold's retreat marked a 10% correction from record highs, with technical indicators showing bearish momentum as prices broke below key trend-line support, according to that analysis. Meanwhile, Bitcoin fell 3.5% to $108,000, aligning with losses in global equities and U.S. futures, though it rebounded near $115,000 by late October amid improved trade sentiment, according to a Coinotag article. The cryptocurrency's ETF inflows, however, lagged behind gold's outflows, highlighting divergent investor behavior in that Coinotag piece.

The U.S.-China trade thaw weakened two key drivers of gold's recent rally: geopolitical risks and trade policy uncertainty. The agreement, set to be finalized by Presidents Trump and Xi Jinping at the ASEAN summit, addressed major sticking points such as rare earth exports and fentanyl controls. This de-escalation reduced demand for gold and other non-yielding assets, as investors shifted back to riskier markets. Central banks also paused gold purchases, with China's net gold exports dropping 17.6% month-on-month in September. Despite the pullback, JPMorgan forecasts gold to average $5,055 per ounce by late 2026, driven by sustained central bank demand and investor appetite.

Bitcoin, meanwhile, faced a mixed landscape. While ETF inflows totaled $446 million from October 20–24, led by BlackRock's IBIT with $324 million, Ethereum ETFs saw $244 million in outflows, according to a Coinotag report. The Bitcoin-gold ratio, a measure of relative strength, improved above pre-crash levels but remained below 30—a threshold analysts say would confirm the end of trade-related fears, as noted in the earlier Coinotag article. Institutional investors attributed Bitcoin's resilience to its role as a digital store of value and its correlation with gold's inverse relationship to the U.S. dollar, according to a FinanceFeeds report. However, Ethereum's outflows underscored ongoing uncertainty around regulatory classifications and staking yields, as that FinanceFeeds piece explained.

Technical analysis highlighted divergent trajectories for both assets. Gold's RSI approached bearish territory, with critical support at $3,944, while Bitcoin's price hovered near $115,000, supported by improved trade sentiment reported earlier. Prediction markets gave gold a 65% chance to outperform Bitcoin in 2025, though the gap narrowed as the cryptocurrency's ETF inflows gained traction. Analysts at Standard Chartered noted that Bitcoin could close the performance gap if ETF inflows reached $1 billion in early November.

The broader crypto ETF market showed uneven momentum. Solana's first spot ETF in Hong Kong, approved on October 27, drew strong institutional interest, with 80% of surveyed clients planning to invest, as the Coinotag ETF piece reported. Meanwhile, Bitcoin ETFs approached $150 billion in assets, driven by BlackRock and Fidelity, while Ethereum's ETFs struggled with redemptions, the FinanceFeeds analysis found. The contrast reflected Bitcoin's dominance as a hedge against inflation and geopolitical risks, even as Ethereum faced regulatory headwinds.