Gold reversed all August gains after Fed hawkish signals, while Bitcoin held above $77K despite pullback from macro volatility.
Macro & Markets ·
Gold has reversed all of its August gains following a shift in market sentiment triggered by Federal Reserve Chair Kevin Warsh's hawkish speech at Jackson Hole, which markets interpreted as signaling upcoming rate hikes. The precious metal peaked at $4,700 per ounce on August 25 but has since fallen to $4,300, erasing gains and dropping below where it started the month. Bitcoin, by contrast, has proven more resilient, slipping to $77,000 but remaining 20% higher than its August starting level around $64,000.
The initial rally in both assets came after the US Treasury Department announced it would double liquidity-support buybacks for longer-dated government debt to $4 billion per operation on August 19. This announcement fueled gains across gold, stocks, and crypto, with Bitcoin climbing to $81,500. However, the hawkish pivot from the Fed reversed momentum in risk-on assets, with the bond market reclaiming lost value and gold facing rejection at its peak.
Despite Bitcoin's relative stability, spot BTC ETFs have experienced more withdrawals than inflows over recent business days, signaling potential cracks in support as the initial market enthusiasm wanes. Whether Bitcoin will follow gold's sharper reversal remains an open question as macro conditions continue to favor defensive positioning.