Bitcoin tumbles below $86,000 as gold smashes $5,100 and silver clears $110

Spot Bitcoin ETFs in the U.S. recorded $1.7 billion in outflows over five straight days, nearly erasing the prior week’s inflows, according to Sosovalue data.

BlackRock’s IBIT alone lost $101.62 million on Tuesday, the largest daily withdrawal among peers. Fidelity’s FBTC followed with a smaller $1.95 million outflow. Other issuers like Grayscale, Bitwise, and VanEck posted flat flows, with no net additions reported.

The cumulative total inflow across all spot Bitcoin ETFs stood at $56.49 billion, while total net assets hit $115.88 billion, representing 6.48% of Bitcoin’s total market cap. Trading activity remained high, with $3.36 billion in total value traded Tuesday.

Meanwhile, the brutal U.S. winter storm “Fernan” hammered the Bitcoin mining ecosystem. Foundry USA, the country’s largest mining pool, saw its hashrate collapse by roughly 60% since Friday as extreme weather forced miners offline.

Roughly 200 EH/s went down, slowing block times to 12 minutes. Foundry, which normally runs at 198 EH/s, makes up 23% of global pool hashrate.

Other major U.S.-based pools also throttled output to reduce stress on the power grid, as over 1 million residents lost electricity nationwide.

Gold’s market cap surged to a record $35 trillion, while silver hit $6 trillion, putting the two metals at nine times Nvidia’s market value.

Silver pushed to a fresh all‑time high of $110, extending a rally that’s been feeding on inflation hedging, geopolitical stress, and real-asset demand.

At the same time, U.S. natural gas prices spiked above $6 for the first time since late 2022, after a massive winter storm tore through the country.

February natural gas futures jumped 18%, or 95 cents, to $6.20 per million British thermal units at 8:15 a.m. London time, marking a new 52‑week high. The contract is now up roughly 68% year‑to‑date and back above levels last seen when European LNG demand surged following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

The storm left over 822,000 customers without power late Sunday, according to PowerOutage.us, while widespread outages triggered mass flight cancellations and added fresh pressure to already strained energy markets.

U.S. stock futures fell sharply Sunday night as traders braced for a packed week featuring over 90 earnings reports, including Apple, Meta, and Microsoft, alongside a major monetary policy decision from the Federal Reserve.

Dow futures slid 317 points (–0.6%), while S&P 500 futures dropped 0.8% and Nasdaq-100 futures fell 1.1%. Even with 76% of companies beating earnings estimates so far, names like Intel and Netflix still sold off after their reports.

Tom Lee, head of research at Fundstrat, said the team expects 14% earnings growth this cycle and continues to recommend Bitcoin, Ethereum, and sectors like energy, materials, and the Magnificent Seven tech stocks.

In Asia, the picture was mixed. Japan’s Nikkei 225 tumbled 1.45%, with the Topix down 1.76%. Meanwhile, South Korea’s Kospi gained 0.64%, and the Kosdaq rose 2.28%. The Australian ASX 200 added 0.13%, and Hang Seng futures inched above their last close.

The yen strengthened 0.45% to trade near 155.01 per dollar as regional currencies remained steady.

Gold jumped past $5,000 an ounce for the first time ever on Monday, as spot prices hit $5,042 and February futures reached $5,036, climbing 1.2%. The surge came while Bitcoin dropped to $85,767, deepening losses as traders dumped risk assets.

The metal’s breakout followed rising geopolitical flashpoints stretching from Greenland and Venezuela to the Middle East, pushing investors into hard assets. HSBC said last week the latest gold and silver rally was driven by “geoeconomics issues related to Greenland.”

Silver surged 3% to $106.1, helped by both safe-haven flows and strong industrial demand. Analysts at Union Bancaire Privée said the buying is coming from both institutional and retail players, and they expect gold to end the year at $5,200.

Goldman Sachs raised its December 2026 forecast to $5,400, citing “sticky hedges” against fiscal instability and macro-policy risks. Western ETFs added 500 tonnes since 2025 started, while wealthy families, central banks, and options traders keep driving new demand.

Goldman estimates central banks are now buying 60 tonnes per month, triple the pre-2022 average, with emerging markets leading the charge.

Bitcoin plunged to $87,286, down 2.36%, after a brutal $60 million leveraged long wipeout in under 30 minutes, with liquidation volume now sitting at $87.18M.

The collapse wiped out short-term bullish sentiment just as U.S. stock futures prepare to open in under 7 hours.

Across altcoins, ETH dropped 4.38% to $2,835, with $133.63M in liquidations. SOL sank nearly 5% to $120.97, while XRP slipped 4.67%, and DOGE fell 3.64%.

BNB also dipped 2.95% to $863.48. Combined sell-offs across AI, Layer-1s, and gaming tokens added to the pressure, as on-chain categories from DePIN to DeFAI posted red across the board.

President Donald Trump raised stakes even higher, posting on Truth Social, “Canada is systematically destroying itself… the China deal is a disaster… I want to see Canada survive and thrive!”

In a follow-up, Trump added, “China is successfully and completely taking over the once Great Country of Canada. So sad… I only hope they leave Ice Hockey alone!”