Bitcoin Drops, Gold Soars Amid News of Trump COVID-19 Diagnosis

In a tweet posted in the early hours of Oct 2, Trump announced that he and First Lady Melania Trump had tested positive for COVID-19. The tweet indicated that the couple would start the 14-day quarantine process “immediately.”

Bitcoin and Gold Market Response

Shortly after the news broke, global stock markets reacted with a heavy slide, and crypto markets appear to be following a similar path. For its part, Bitcoin has shed almost $200 since the announcement.

The latest dip comes on the heels of a drop fueled by the news that U.S. officials indicted BitMEX owner Arthur Hayes and other executives on charges the crypto exchange violated know-your-customer and derivatives trading laws. All told, Bitcoin is down more than 4% over the last 24 hours Meanwhile, gold is pumping. The precious metal is up on the day, with the price spiking over one percent to reach a high of $1,909 per oz. These developments prompted more than a few traders to note the opposing trends. One tweeted, “I think, once and for all we can all agree that BTC is not correlated to gold and is correlated to equities, no chopping and changing whenever it suits our bias, this is how it is now.”

The Ripple Effect

The news affected markets across the board — the Australian ASX is down 1.35%, and S&P 500 futures fell by roughly 2%. In the same period, Ethereum has lost around 5% in a fall back to $338. But among cryptocurrencies, it’s DeFi tokens that are crashing hardest, YFI, SNX, BAND, SUSHI, and COMP have all dropped by more than 10%. While this may be nothing more than a small blip on the radar, more than a few commentators recognized the potential significance for Bitcoin. As crypto analyst Joseph Young put it, “the BitMEX charges and Trump contracting COVID-19 couldn’t take Bitcoin below the $10k level even briefly. The resilience of Bitcoin during this cycle is quite impressive.”