Bitcoin and gold are the worst-performing major asset classes of 2026, down 7.3% and 7.5% respectively. Market strategist Charlie Bilello says the pairing has not happened before in a calendar year. Gold miners are also under pressure.
Bitcoin and gold, two assets often bought as hedges against monetary stress, now sit at the bottom of the 2026 performance table. Bitcoin is down 7.3% year-to-date and gold 7.5% as of Friday, Oct. 23, according to Creative Planning Chief Market Strategist Charlie Bilello.
According to Bilello: "This is something we haven’t seen before in any calendar year," he wrote on X.
Stocks, bonds and cash pull ahead
Both assets are trailing stocks, bonds, and even cash this year. The pairing stands out because crypto investors often frame bitcoin as "digital gold," while the two assets can behave very differently during periods of stress.
The long-term record makes the decline more notable. Since 2011, bitcoin has delivered an annualized return of 120.6% across the assets tracked in the comparison, according to data shared by Bilello, while gold has returned about 6.3% annually.
Gold's slide also follows a strong 2025, when the metal surged 63.7%. For bitcoin, the weakness shows that long-term outperformance does not remove the risk of extended drawdowns.
Gold miners show stretched selling
The pressure is even more visible in gold equities. Roughly 92% of stocks in the GDX gold miners ETF are trading below their 50-day moving average, according to The Kobeissi Letter, and that share has risen by 80% in just 21 sessions.
About 90% of GDX constituents are also below their 200-day moving average, the highest proportion in three months. Similar conditions appeared in March and December 2024, and GDX then rallied 21.5% and 15.4%, respectively, over the following month.
That history does not guarantee another rebound. If both bitcoin and gold remain weak, 2026 could become a test of the hedge narratives surrounding each asset.
Source: Bitcoin News
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