Bitcoin Crash Pushes Some Institutional Investors to Reconsider Gold: JPMorgan

More than a week after the bitcoin price crash of May 19, institutional investors have demonstrated a weak appetite when it comes to buying the dip, according to analysts at JPMorgan. 

"Bitcoin funds continue to see outflows and gold exchange-traded funds continue to see inflows, suggesting that the shift away from bitcoin and back into traditional gold by institutional investors is still underway,” according to the report by JPMorgan analyst Nikolaos Panigirtzoglou.

May marked a 35% drop in price for bitcoin, making it one of the worst months to date for the cryptocurrency. 

"There is little doubt that the boom and bust dynamics of the past weeks represent a setback to the institutional adoption of crypto markets and in particular of bitcoin and ethereum,” according to the report.  

The analyst sees medium-term fair value for bitcoin in the $24,000 to $36,000 range. 

“We had argued previously that the failure of bitcoin to break above the $60K threshold would see momentum signals turn more bearish and induce further position unwinds, and that this has likely been a significant factor in the correction last week” in pushing commodity trading advisors and other momentum-based investors to cut positions, the bank said. 

On the Chicago Mercantile Exchange,  there’s a similar picture of little appetite to buy the dip, according to the analyst.

At press time, bitcoin was trading at $36,221, representing a nearly 1.5% drop over the last 24 hours. The cryptocurrency is up by 24% so far in 2021.

The cryptocurrency could continue to fall in the short-term, the analysts wrote. 

“While there are tentative signs of stabilization in bitcoin and Ethereum prices following the correction in recent weeks, the positioning backdrop is not yet at levels that could be characterized as ‘oversold,’ leaving them vulnerable to further position unwinds,” according to the report.