Bitcoin drops to one-week low as retail buys gold at highest prices since June
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- Bitcoin fell below $64,000 on Tuesday to one-week lows, down 1.5% on Monday as the US-Iran impasse over reopening the Strait of Hormuz kept oil prices elevated with a fresh 5% surge.
- Gold climbed to $4,435 per ounce, its highest level since June 5, with Chinese demand already flagged in August and retail investors adding $50 million to SPDR Gold Shares (GLD) on Aug. 5 — the largest single-day retail inflow since mid-March.
- GLD attracted $637 million in total inflows on Aug. 5, putting the ETF on track for its first monthly inflow since February at +$1.4 billion so far this month, per The Kobeissi Letter.
- US spot Bitcoin ETFs saw a combined $244.4 million inflow the same day, yet retail remained the "key missing component" in crypto markets, the article notes.
- Bitcoin–gold correlation returned to "digital-gold-era levels" on a 90-day rolling basis according to CryptoQuant CEO Ki Young Ju, even as BTC lagged the metal's rally.
- BTC/USD remained capped by the 50-month exponential moving average at $65,827, a level it has closed above on only three days since the start of June.
- Analyst Michaël van de Poppe told followers a bounce to $64,500 would signal the recent pullback was a "liquidity grab," while a break above $65,800 could open a run toward $73,000, with Wednesday's US CPI print for July as the next major catalyst.
Why it matters: Bitcoin's failure to participate in gold's safe-haven rally — even as oil surged 5% on Strait of Hormuz closure concerns — highlights how retail capital is still rotating to the yellow metal (GLD retail inflows hit a March high) rather than crypto, leaving BTC stuck below the $66,000 resistance and the 50-month EMA at $65,827 ahead of a CPI print that historically triggers crypto weakness.
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