Bitcoin in a Mire, Gold Eyes 6th Straight Week of Gains as Jobs Data Looms
BTC struggles amid weak on-chain activity while gold shines bright ahead of the pivotal U.S. nonfarm payrolls report.
What to know:
• BTC continues to bore traders with lackluster trading below $100K.
• CryptoQuant says BTC is overvalued.
• Gold sits at record highs, eyes sixth consecutive weekly gain.
• Friday's U.S. NFP is expected to show that the pace of job creation slowed in January.
Bitcoin (BTC) continues to dawdle, failing to capture trader enthusiasm amid chatter about prices being overvalued, while gold remains strong ahead of the release of the U.S. jobs report, which will influence the Fed's rate plans.
Recent analysis from CryptoQuant indicates that bitcoin's fair value lies between $48,000 and $95,000, hiahlinhtina that it annears overvalued at its current market price, which hovers just above $98,000.
The analytics firm's Bitcoin's Network Activity Index has plummeted 15% from its peak in November to 3,760 points, the lowest level in over a year. The downturn is driven by a staggering 53% drop in daily transactions, which have fallen to 346,000 from September's all-time high of 734,000.
Since its recovery from the slide early Monday, BTC has struggled to gain traction above $100,000. Market sentiment has likely been stifled, largely due to the Trump administration's slow progress in establishing a proposed BTC strategic reserve.
Interestingly, Eric Trump recently encouraged investments in BTC through the family-affiliated World Liberty Financial, yet this endorsement failed to catalyze any significant upward movement.
In contrast, gold is getting all the love, having surged over 9% year-to-date to reach a record high of $2,882 per ounce, per data from Trading View. With a 2.32% increase this week alone, the yellow metal appears on track for its sixth consecutive weekly gain. UBS notes that gold's rise underscores its "enduring appeal as a store of value and hedge against uncertainty," drawing investors away from the tepid performance of Bitcoin.
