A key trend in the gold market has just been broken, and bitcoin could be to blame.
The gold miners ETF had fallen nearly 15%from its September highs while gold has plunged to lows unseen since the end of July. This is curious, according to at least one expert, as the move lower in gold has also been followed by a move down in bond yields, which according to the strategist is very rare.
In fact, while gold has fallen more than 2% in the past month, bitcoin has actually more than doubled its value in that time, according to Coinbase.
Following the launch of bitcoin futures contracts on the CBOE, bitcoin soared and was around $16,800 U.S. Monday morning. Gold, on the other hand, was still sitting near its July lows.
One senior market strategist says that the performance of bitcoin futures contracts, the first of which began trading on the Chicago Board Options Exchange (CBOE) on Sunday, will be a key determinant of gold's next move.
The next exchange to launch bitcoin futures contracts will be the CME on Dec. 18.
