BlackRock’s Bitcoin ETF options surpassed gold ETFs, signaling a quiet but notable sentiment shift.
February 2026 is showing mixed messages regarding the Bitcoin vs gold narrative as there has been ongoing debate over which hard asset is entering into its next expansion stage. While gold has climbed to new highs above $5,100, Bitcoin has failed to rise above the $67,000 area, continuing its consolidation that has now reached almost a month.
Meanwhile, one of the top crypto analysts has stated that the Bitcoin vs gold debate should always be based on the true relative strength between both rare commodities.
BTC vs Gold Ratio Indicates Late Bear Market Phase
Market analyst Michael van de Poppe posted that Bitcoin has been falling against gold since about 14 months. He further said that it achieved the highest level relative to gold in December 2024.
The preceding BTC vs gold bear markets happened in 2013-2015, 2017-2019, and 2021- 2022. This current one is of similar duration and each time the digital asset rose to multi-year uptrends.
The weekly RSI in the BTC vs gold chart has also hit a record low, which indicated the lowest macro bottoms in the past. According to the analyst, the existing structure indicates that BTC price is approaching the end of a relative downtrend.
This makes the October 2025 all-time high for BTC expressed in USD misleading. It is more of a rise as gold also gained instead of BTC’s independence.
The same sentiment change can be observed in Polymarket data as there is a 29% probability that Bitcoin is much more likely to outperform gold in 2026. Despite its lesser performance, the BTC price trading within a range for multiple weeks is often followed by a huge directional price movement.
Traditionally, when gold performs better than BTC and the Bitcoin vs gold RSI hits its deepest possible lows, a drastic upswing in the price of the most popular cryptocurrency follows. A recent shift in sentiment regarding the Bitcoin vs gold debate happened recently. BlackRock Bitcoin ETF (IBIT) options soared to be the ninth largest in the American market surpassing gold ETFs.
Trading volume in IBIT options rose higher than that of VanEck Gold Miners ETFs and SPDR Gold Shares. Also, a JPMorgan analyst argued that Bitcoin is more appealing in the long-term compared to gold.
Which Asset Could Spike Next?
Gold has gained momentum and it has good macro flows as well as technical continuation. Nevertheless, the BTC vs Gold ratio implies that Bitcoin price is on the verge of a historical inflection area.
This zone is associated with a decrease in downside momentum. Hence, an inversion of this ratio would likely cause a higher percentage change in Bitcoin price than gold.
Meanwhile, analyst Willy Woo argued that an established 12-year trend of how Bitcoin has performed against gold has been breached. He also has said that Quantum fears and lost coins returning into circulation may cause a downward pressure Bitcoin price.
Woo also related the Bitcoin vs gold interaction to macro demand. He added that the coming 10 years might be associated with a debt strain cycle. This will compel investors to become more interested assets, such as gold.
