Bloomberg Senior ETF Analyst Eric Balchunas on Friday said Bitcoin (CRYPTO: BTC) ETFs are likely following gold ETFs’ 22-year playbook of explosive gains, painful drawdowns, and recoveries that test investor patience.
Why Balchunas Is Drawing The Gold ETF Parallel
Balchunas built his comparison around one shared structural trait.
Both Bitcoin and gold ETFs are wrappers around non-yielding assets that generate no cash flow, meaning investor sentiment drives performance rather than earnings, coupons, or government backing.
That makes demand fickle, arriving in waves rather than building steadily, and capable of producing both price explosions and prolonged stagnation.
BlackRock’s IBIT (NASDAQ:IBIT) currently manages roughly $60 billion in assets, well below the $100 billion it briefly touched in October when Bitcoin hit its all-time high.
Balchunas said IBIT held above that threshold for only a few hours before pulling back.
He compared that moment to the SPDR Gold Trust (NYSE:GLD) briefly surpassing SPY to become the world’s largest ETF in 2011, only to spend eight years trying to reclaim that level.
“I feel like there’s a spiritual parallel between GLD and IBIT,” Balchunas wrote on X.
The constructive part of his read is that each gold ETF cycle set a higher high water mark than the one before it, suggesting the pattern for Bitcoin ETFs may be two steps forward, one step back rather than a permanent peak.
Bitcoin Is Breaking Away From Tech Stocks
Analyst Joao Wedson flagged a separate development that reinforces Balchunas’ thesis from a different angle.
Until the end of 2025, Bitcoin tracked closely with the iShares Expanded Tech Software Sector ETF (BATS:IGV). That correlation is now breaking down.
Wedson argued this decoupling is a positive development, bringing Bitcoin closer to Satoshi Nakamoto’s original vision of an asset that moves independently of traditional markets.
He said the next crypto bull market could catch many analysts off guard if they continue applying traditional market correlations to Bitcoin’s price behavior.
“Over the next three years, we could see stocks weakening while crypto enters a new bull market and moves in the opposite direction,” Wedson wrote. “Bitcoin does not need Wall Street’s permission to rise,” he added.
Where Does Bitcoin Stand Now?
Bitcoin is down roughly 30% year to date and about 50% from its October record. Gold sits near $4,000 an ounce, down 7% year to date but still 19% higher over the past 12 months.
BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) reported this week that its total digital asset AUM fell 40% year over year to roughly $49 billion, reflecting price declines across both Bitcoin and Ethereum (CRYPTO: ETH).
Spot Bitcoin and Ether ETFs did record their first week of net inflows since early May last week, pointing to early signs that sentiment is beginning to stabilize.
Photo via Shutterstock
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