Major cryptocurrencies including Bitcoin (BTC), Ether (ETH), XRP and Dogecoin (DOGE) are lagging behind traditional equities despite an overall risk-on market environment.
While Wall Street indices such as the S&P 500 and Nasdaq continue to climb, crypto markets remain range-bound, struggling to match the momentum seen in stocks.
The divergence comes at a time when equities are benefiting from strong corporate earnings and concentrated flows into AI-related mega-cap names such as Tesla, Google and Oracle.
According to market data, these companies have helped lift indices to fresh highs, even if broader participation across the stock market has been limited.
Gold prices have also reached record levels this month, driven by safe-haven demand and expectations of lower interest rates, highlighting the contrast between traditional asset classes gaining traction and crypto markets treading water.
Speaking with Yellow media, Jamie Elkaleh, CMO of Bitget Wallet, noted that cryptocurrencies are facing additional headwinds compared with equities.
“Bitcoin, Ether, XRP, and Dogecoin are trailing stocks even as markets turn risk-on because investors are cautious ahead of the Fed’s rate cut,” he said.
Elkaleh added that while equities enjoy buybacks and earnings support, crypto markets are seeing mixed signals, including Ethereum ETF inflows offset by profit-taking and Bitcoin’s momentum being capped by leverage and regulatory noise.
Enmanuel Cardozo, market analyst at Brickken, emphasized that the current equity rally is not broad-based but highly selective.
He said risk capital has been concentrated in AI-focused equities, pulling attention away from digital assets.
“This isn’t a rejection of the asset class, it’s a pause and a rotation,” Cardozo explained, adding that Bitcoin and Ether had already posted strong gains earlier in the summer before slipping into consolidation.
Javed Khattak, co-founder of Cheqd, pointed to persistent structural challenges weighing on crypto. He highlighted that regulatory uncertainty, waning investor confidence and selling pressure from large holders remain obstacles.
“The usual culprits are regulatory uncertainty, investor confidence and perhaps selling pressures from ‘whales’ is likely to blame for cryptocurrencies to be lagging behind equities,” Khattak said.
He added that despite parallels often drawn between Bitcoin and gold as stores of value, crypto has failed to follow either gold’s record-setting run or equities’ rally, underlining the need for clearer regulations and fresh catalysts.
Philip Gjorup, co-founder of Nord Comms, cautioned that the picture looks different when zooming out.
“While cryptocurrencies may appear to be ‘lagging’ in daily trading sentiment and short-term volatility patterns, Bitcoin has actually gained 24% year to date versus the S&P 500’s 13.5%, meaning the S&P 500 is down 10% when measured in Bitcoin terms,” he said.
Gjorup noted that the perception of underperformance is tied to two factors: rising volatility indexes pushing investors toward equities as perceived safer assets, and high interest rates discouraging institutions from allocating more capital to crypto despite record ETF inflows.
The S&P 500 and Nasdaq Composite have advanced approximately 10-15% year-to-date, supported by robust quarterly earnings reports and share buyback programs that bolster investor confidence in traditional equities.
In parallel, gold prices have surged to record highs, trading at $3,688.78 per troy ounce on September 16, a 0.26% daily increase and 10.69% monthly gain, up 43.31% from the prior year.