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Bitcoin edged higher on Tuesday as stocks fell and gold shot to a new record.
The price of so-called digital gold rose as much as 2% to reclaim the $111,000 level after dropping over the weekend to a low last seen in July. Spot gold hovered around $3,500 after surpassing that level earlier in the session for the first time ever.
The moves came amid a sell-off in stocks and a jump in bond yields, which were triggered by concerns — which first emerged late on Friday ahead of the extended holiday weekend — on the legality of President Donald Trump’s global tariffs and the prospect that the U.S. may have to repay money already received.
Bitcoin reclaims $111,000 Tuesday
“Gold’s run of outperformance has been driven by rate‑cut expectations, dollar weakness, and geopolitical uncertainty, reaffirming its role as a traditional safe‑haven hedge,” Joel Kruger, market strategist at LMAX Group, told CNBC. “Bitcoin on the other hand, while also benefiting from all of these themes, has had to contend with other drivers in Q3; namely, a massive rotation into Ethereum, which has factored into some of the relative weakness” against it.
Leo Zhao, investment director at MEXC Ventures, said the split “shows a market that wants both safety and yield” and that “crypto is increasingly competing with traditional safe-havens.”
While bitcoin is still trading below key resistance levels, investors say its market dominance could return if the Federal Reserve cuts interest rates at its Sept. 16-17 meeting.
Meanwhile, ether, which has been the crypto market leader for much of the summer, was flat at about $4,300. It hit an all-time high on Aug. 25 near $125,000.
SOL, the token tied to the Solana network, rose 1%. Last week, it hit a six-month high and has outperformed both bitcoin and ether for the past three weeks — up 11% in that period versus ether’s 2% gain and bitcoin’s 6% loss.
Several crypto stocks were in the green, including Coinbase, Galaxy, Strategy and most bitcoin miners. Stablecoin issuer Circle slid 7% and ether accumulater SharpLink fell more than 4%.
