Bitcoin has decoupled from traditional markets, trading independently from Nasdaq while showing negative correlation to gold. The cryptocurrency demonstrated strong positive correlation to both assets in mid-2025 but has since diverged significantly from historical patterns.
What Happened: Market Correlation Analysis
CryptoQuant community analyst Maartunn documented the shift in a recent analysis, tracking Bitcoin's correlation coefficient to Nasdaq and Gold over multiple years. The data shows Bitcoin maintained notable positive correlation to both assets through mid-2025, indicating the cryptocurrency moved in tandem with traditional markets.
The correlation indicator measures price relationship strength between two assets, with values near 1 representing strong positive correlation, -1 indicating strong inverse correlation, and 0 signaling complete independence.
Bitcoin's correlation to Nasdaq currently sits near zero, suggesting the cryptocurrency now trades independently from U.S. equities.
The relationship to gold shows more dramatic movement, with the correlation coefficient dropping to approximately -0.5. This negative reading indicates Bitcoin and Gold now move in opposite directions despite the cryptocurrency's reputation as digital gold or a safe haven asset.
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Why It Matters: Regime Shift
"BTC is no longer trading like a tech stock or a safe haven," Maartunn stated. "It's carving out its own market regime."
The shift challenges Bitcoin's traditional classification within investor portfolios.
The cryptocurrency historically tracked technology stocks during risk-on periods and occasionally mirrored gold during market uncertainty, but current data suggests neither framework applies.
Bitcoin traded around $87,500 following early-week declines, maintaining sideways consolidation. Whether this correlation pattern persists or reverses remains uncertain as market dynamics continue evolving.
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