Bitcoin Gains 36% as Stocks Stall and Gold Slips Over Five Weeks

What to Know

• Bitcoin gained 36% across five weeks, while the S&P 500 rose 0.8% and gold fell 1.5% in Santiment’s market comparison.
• Santiment linked Bitcoin’s rally to smaller holder selling, renewed ETF demand, Treasury buybacks, and short squeezes during successive resistance breaks.
• The chart records substantial outperformance but cannot establish which proposed catalyst drove Bitcoin or whether its market divergence will persist.

Bitcoin (BTC) has pulled ahead of stocks and gold, gaining 36% across five weeks while both traditional markets struggled for momentum. A Santiment chart places the cryptocurrency near $87,100 on September 22, following another climb in the closing days of the comparison.

According to Santiment Intelligence, the S&P 500 gained just 0.8% from August 18, while gold lost 1.5% over the same period. Bitcoin therefore outperformed the stock index by 35.2 percentage points and gold by 37.5 percentage points.

The gap developed unevenly as Bitcoin rose quickly in late August, moved sideways during parts of early September, and accelerated again near September 22.  Meanwhile, the S&P 500 made modest gains, and gold finished below its starting level.

Santiment linked the early move to selling among wallets holding between 0.1 and 10 BTC in mid-August. Its chart tracks prices rather than wallet activity, however, so that proposed link comes from the firm’s broader analysis.

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Treasury Buybacks and ETF Demand Enter Santiment’s Explanation

Liquidity became another part of Santiment’s account as Bitcoin moved further ahead of the other assets. The firm pointed to larger U.S. Treasury buybacks, renewed exchange-traded fund demand, and short squeezes during resistance breaks.

The Treasury raised the maximum size of certain long-dated bond buyback operations from $2 billion to at least $4 billion, effective September 9. It described the change as support for liquidity in those bond markets. Santiment connected that wider backdrop with Bitcoin’s rally, although the price chart cannot measure any direct effect.

ETF purchases can add demand for Bitcoin, while a short squeeze forces traders betting against it to close their positions. Those pressures could reinforce a rising price, but Santiment’s three-line chart does not show ETF flows or liquidations.

That distinction matters because the comparison captures an outcome, while the post offers several explanations for how it developed. It also shows Bitcoin holding much of its earlier gain before the final advance, despite periods of weaker trading.

Santiment argued that Bitcoin was responding to crypto-specific forces as stocks faced higher rates and uneven market participation. It also suggested that expectations of tighter policy weighed on gold during the five-week period.

Conclusion

The chart establishes a sizeable performance gap between Bitcoin, the S&P 500, and gold from August 18 to September 22. Whether that gap persists depends on subsequent trading; five weeks alone cannot establish a lasting change in their relationship.

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