Gold and Bitcoin traded at record highs as investors sought protection in October, a typically volatile month for markets.
Rising inflation and debt, a weaker U.S. dollar, the government shutdown, and Wall Street’s latest buzz about “subsidence trading” have all pushed assets beyond stocks and bonds.
“This whole down trade is benefiting gold,” Amplify ETF CEO Christian Magoon told CNBC’s “ETF Edge” this week.
The Federal Reserve’s fight against inflation and the nation’s rising debt have heightened investor concerns about long-term currency stability. As of early October, the total U.S. federal debt was about $3.7 trillion, according to Treasury Department fiscal data. The US dollar index (DXY) has fallen about 8% since the beginning of the year.
Both gold and Bitcoin are treated as safe-haven assets in a market shaped by inflation and policy risk. Gold initially soared above $4,000 on Tuesday, hitting an all-time high. Precious metals continue to rise, fueling uncertainty. Bitcoin has joined the gold devaluation trade as a digital alternative to traditional currencies. The cryptocurrency hit a new all-time high earlier this week, topping just above $126,000.
So-called “downgrade trades” are bets that government borrowing and money printing will reduce the value of the U.S. dollar, causing more investors to flock to safe-haven assets.
“Inflation is well above target and well above target in all our forecasts for next year, which is part of the reason for the weak dollar,” Citadel CEO Ken Griffin told Bloomberg on Monday. “Gold is at record highs and the rise in other dollar substitutes, like cryptocurrencies, for example, is incredible.”
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Gold ETF and Bitcoin ETF performance in 2025.
For Kim, this move did not come out of nowhere. It currently outperforms all major U.S. stock market indexes year-to-date and over the past 1 and 3 years.
Gold continues to attract steady inflows, with silver up about 66% year-to-date and the precious metal soaring to an all-time high of $50 on Thursday.
“We expect silver to rise from the high $40s to the low $60s over the next 12 months,” Magoon wrote on ETF Edge.
“As we enter our sixth year of supply constraints, the trend for silver from an industry perspective is only going to get more bullish,” he added.
October has historically been the most volatile month of the year on Wall Street, and Jay Jacobs, head of equity ETFs at BlackRock, says he’s seen many clients change their portfolios and move toward global financial alternatives. Jacobs told CNBC’s “ETF Edge” this week that some traders are seeking non-sovereign assets such as gold, silver and cryptocurrencies that behave differently than stocks and bonds. “People are looking for assets outside of the traditional system, and that can be a bit of a portfolio,” Jacobs says.
Jacobs said SPDR Gold Trust (GLD) and iShares Gold Trust (IAU) remain strong options for gold exposure. Meanwhile, the iShares Silver Trust (SLV) has become the go-to for silver, and the iShares Bitcoin Trust (IBIT) is attracting interest from those looking for regular exposure.
Bitcoin ETFs have also recently outperformed the largest U.S. stock ETFs in weekly flows.
Billionaire hedge fund manager Paul Tudor Jones told CNBC’s “Squawk Box” on Monday that he will hold a mix of gold, cryptocurrencies and Nasdaq tech stocks between now and the end of the year to capitalize on the rally fueled by “fear of missing out.”
Jones rose to fame after predicting the 1987 stock market crash and profiting from it.
“Bear markets are tough,” Magoon said. “This is a way to hide or profit in uncertain times,” Magoon said.
But he added, “A lot of times, bull markets climb up ‘walls of fear.’ It looks like one of those ‘walls of fear’ is going to disappear, and I think we’ll be in a good place for the fourth quarter.”
Stocks plunged on Friday as new risks emerged as U.S.-China tensions over rare earth elements escalate as President Trump threatened to impose “significant” new tariffs.
Jacobs said on ETF Edge earlier this week that there is strong momentum going forward and into 2026, including enthusiasm for corporate earnings and optimism about the potential for rate cuts by the Federal Reserve.
Fed policymakers generally agreed that the central bank should cut interest rates because of the weakness in the labor market, but they differed on whether the central bank should cut interest rates a total of two or three times this year, including the quarter-point rate cut approved at last month’s meeting, according to the Fed’s minutes released Wednesday.
Jacobs said there are reasons for continued active trading outside of stocks and bonds. “If geopolitical uncertainty and inflation uncertainty continues, people will seek assets outside the traditional system,” he said.
To learn more about how investors are using ETFs to manage market volatility, check out the full episode of ETF Edge.
