The market shake today: Bitcoin seeks stability while precious metals make history

The start of the US trading day brought turbulence. Bitcoin dropped back to $87,830 (a 2.50% decline in 24 hours), while the golden glow of the precious metals market shines brightly. Today’s market shakeout illustrates the diverging fortunes between cryptocurrencies and traditional stores of value.

Bitcoin’s Strong Opening Loses Momentum

Friday brought a sharp decline for Bitcoin. The cryptocurrency opened the US session with heavy losses and fell back to the $87,830 range. This contrast is remarkable: just last week, Bitcoin reached $98,000, which at the time yielded a cumulative return of 9% for the year during US trading hours.

Since then, those returns have evaporated to just 2%, according to CoinDesk senior analyst James Van Straten. This indicates significant weakness in demand for Bitcoin from US institutional investors. The past four trading sessions saw massive outflows from US spot bitcoin ETFs, with more than $1.6 billion in capital leaving the platform.

Gold and Silver Make Record Breakthroughs

While Bitcoin loses ground, precious metals are making remarkable strides forward. Silver has for the first time in history broken the $100 per ounce mark—a milestone that well illustrates today’s volatile market shakeout. Gold is approaching $5,000 per ounce, moving closer to this historic level.

Platinum joined this rally, rising 5% to a new all-time high. Even copper, although not officially classified as a precious metal, benefits from the rising trend with a 2.5% gain near its own record level.

Crypto-Related Stocks Under Pressure

Today’s market shakeout extended to the broader crypto ecosystem. Coinbase (COIN) lost 2.6% of its value, while MicroStrategy (MSTR) declined 1.2%. Bitcoin miners Riot Platforms (RIOT) and Marathon Digital Holdings (MARA) both recorded declines of about 2%.

This is notable because US stocks generally recovered and mostly closed higher, with the Nasdaq gaining 0.4% despite Intel’s disappointing forward guidance. This suggests that today’s market shakeout was mainly focused on the crypto segment.

US Investors Pull Back from Bitcoin

The capital outflow from Bitcoin ETFs signals something important: institutional investors are reevaluating their positions. Jasper De Maere, desk strategist at crypto trading firm Wintermute, warned of a recent increase in stablecoin redemptions into fiat currency. This indicates that some institutional players who entered the market en masse earlier this year may now be pulling back.

Dollar Weakening: Why Bitcoin Isn’t Cooperating

A crucial insight from today’s market shakeout concerns the complex relationship between Bitcoin and the US dollar. Contrary to expectations, Bitcoin has not benefited from the recent dollar decline. JPMorgan strategists indicate that the current dollar weakness is primarily driven by short-term flows and sentiment, rather than sustainable changes in growth outlooks or monetary policy.

The bank expects the dollar to stabilize as the US economy strengthens. This explains why markets do not see the current dollar decline as structural. As a result, Bitcoin is traded more as a liquidity-sensitive risk asset than as a reliable dollar hedge—hence why investors prefer gold and emerging markets as vehicles for dollar diversification.

The Broader Context: Pudgy Penguins and NFT Trends

Meanwhile, the broader Web3 ecosystem shows interesting trends. Pudgy Penguins emerges as one of the strongest NFT-native brands of this cycle. The project is evolving from speculative “digital luxury goods” to a multidimensional consumer IP platform. The strategy is to attract users first through mainstream channels—via toys, retail partnerships, and viral media—and then onboard them into Web3 through games, NFTs, and the PENGU token.

The ecosystem now includes phygital products (more than $13 million in retail sales and over 1 million units sold), games and experiences (Pudgy Party achieved over 500,000 downloads in two weeks), and a widely distributed token (airdropped to over 6 million wallets). Although the market currently values Pudgy at a premium compared to traditional IP peers, sustained success depends on execution across all fronts.

What’s Next: The Market Shakeout Awaits

Today’s market shakeout reflects broader macroeconomic uncertainties. While Bitcoin suffers from redemptions and weak institutional demand, precious metals thrive—a classic “risk-off” dynamic. The divergence between Bitcoin and gold suggests that investors remain cautious despite earlier optimism this year.

The coming weeks will be crucial: will Bitcoin stabilize around the current level of $87,830, or will today’s shakeout precede further corrections? At the same time, the record levels of silver and gold raise questions about the long-term outlook for risk assets in a world of uncertain interest rates and dollar trends.