Bitcoin Left Out as Stocks, Bonds and Gold Party on Global Monetary Easing

What
if
bitcoin
bulls
were
told
that
Western
central
banks
had
embarked
on
a
new
monetary
easing
campaign,
the
S&P
500
and
Nasdaq
–
even
with
a
mid-summer
mini-panic
–
were
tripping
along
very
close
to
record
highs,
U.S.
Treasury
yields
were
falling
to
multi-year
lows
and
gold
was
soaring
to
all-time
levels?
Is
that
something
they
might
be
interested
in?

While
it
remains
up
in
the
air
about
whether
the
Federal
Reserve
will
cut
its
benchmark
lending
rate
by
25
or
50
basis
points
next
week,
it’s
a
certainty
the
U.S.
central
bank
will
embark
on
its
first
easing
cycle
since
2019.
In
this,
the
Fed
will
be
joining
other
major
Western
central
banks
–
the
European
Central
Bank,
the
Bank
of
England
and
the
Bank
of
Canada
–
all
of
whom
have
already
cut
interest
rates,
some
more
than
once.
While
Japan
hasn’t
yet
joined
in
and
in
fact
has
made
the
first
initial
steps
towards
tightening,
its
benchmark
policy
rate
of
0.25%
is
only
a
few
basis
points
above
zero.

The
reaction
in
traditional
markets
has
been
as
expected,
with
stocks,
bonds
and
the
price
of
gold
all
sharply
higher
as
a
coordinated
developed
market
monetary
easing
campaign
began
to
manifest
itself.

Bitcoin

(BTC),
though,
hasn’t
joined
in
the
fun.
Though
putting
in
a
nice
rally
on
Friday,
the
price
remains
below
$60,000
and
roughly
20%
below
an
all-time
high
above
$73,500
set
six
months
ago.

Zoom
out,
said
one
smart
observer
CoinDesk
talked
to,
noting
even
with
the
major
pullback
since
March,
bitcoin
remains
higher
by
more
than
40%
year-to-date
and
127%
from
year-ago
levels.
Much
of
bitcoin’s
underperformance
over
the
past
few
months
might
be
nothing
more
than
a
breather
after
an
outsized
upside
move.
The
crypto’s
performance
in
2024
and
year-over-year
remains
far
ahead
of
U.S.
stocks
and
gold.

Still,
zooming
out
even
further
might
be
frustrating
to
bulls.
After
all,
bitcoin
today
is
well
lower
than
its
level
nearly
three
years
ago
when
it
touched
what
was
then
a
record
$69,000.
Taking
into
account
the
speedy
inflation
in
those
three
years,
the
performance
looks
even
worse,
particularly
if
bitcoiners
would
like
the
crypto
to
be
known
as
an
inflation
hedge.
The
S&P
500
is
higher
by
about
33%
over
that
time
frame
and
the
barbarous
relic
gold
is
up
more
than
50%.

Steno
Research
noted
that
bitcoin
hasn’t
seen
a
whole
lot
of
rate
cutting
cycles
–
really
just
the
one
that
started
in
2019.
Bitcoin,
the
team
said,
actually
declined
about
15%
between
the
time
of
the
Fed’s
first
rate
cut
in
August
and
the
end
of
November,
by
which
the
Fed
had
trimmed
by
75
basis
points.
It
wasn’t
until
the
massive
Covid-era
monetary
push
in
March
2020
that
bitcoin
finally
put
in
a
bottom
and
began
what
became
a
meteoric
rise.

It’s
possible
that
a
short,
pedestrian
series
of
rate
cuts
might
do
very
little
for
bitcoin’s
price
and
only
larger,
emergency-style
central
bank
measures
will
be
enough
to
spark
a
new
bull
run.