Gold big pump to 4475 USD hit a new high! Bitcoin is losing favor, the AI stock cash influx is coming.

On Monday, the market showed extreme divergence, with gold prices soaring over 2% to a historic high of $4,475 per ounce, while silver approached $70, setting a new record, and AI-related stocks attracted a large amount of institutional capital. In contrast, Bitcoin briefly touched $90,000 before falling to the $88,000 range, failing to keep up with the pace of other major winners in the market. This week, approximately $27.4 billion in Bitcoin and Ethereum options are set to expire on the Deribit exchange.

Capital rotation accelerates: Gold and AI as dual engines

(Source: Trading View)

This market differentiation reflects the deep rotation of global capital. Traditional safe-haven assets like gold and silver are strong amid geopolitical uncertainty and inflation concerns, while investments in artificial intelligence infrastructure represent a bet on future technological dominance. Bitcoin finds itself caught in the middle, unable to attract safe-haven funds or to share in the incremental capital brought about by the AI boom.

ByteTree's recent analysis report points out: “Bitcoin holders cannot ignore the ongoing strong momentum of the precious metals bull market. I suspect that when this round of pump lacks momentum, Bitcoin will come into play.” This perspective suggests that the current capital rotation may only be a temporary phenomenon, but the issue is that the timing of the “lack of momentum” may be much later than expected.

The performance of silver is particularly noteworthy. As a precious metal with both hedging properties and industrial demand, silver is approaching its historical high of $70 per ounce, and its recent performance has begun to rival the long-term returns of Bitcoin. ByteTree analysts point out that this is a significant shift for precious metal supporters and poses a direct challenge to the “digital gold” narrative. When physical silver can offer returns comparable to Bitcoin, why would investors still take on the additional volatility risk of cryptocurrencies?

Alphabet's acquisition of Intersect for $4.75 billion demonstrates the strong demand for data center capacity in the market. This massive investment in AI infrastructure has not only driven up tech stock valuations but also indirectly affected the cryptocurrency market. A large amount of capital is flooding into the artificial intelligence sector, whereas this capital may have previously flowed into risk assets such as Bitcoin.

Bitcoin miners transforming into AI infrastructure warning

More symbolically, it is the collective transformation of cryptocurrency miners. Hut 8 (HUT) saw its stock price rise over 17% in a single day after raising its target price and signing an important data center lease agreement. The company has transformed from a pure Bitcoin miner into a high-performance computing (HPC) infrastructure provider, offering computing power support for AI training.

This transformation conveys a key signal: management believes that outside the cryptocurrency market, their high-performance computing assets can have more reliable, and perhaps more profitable, applications. When Bitcoin miners start to shift resources from mining to AI infrastructure, it challenges the investment logic of pure mining operations and may force a broader reassessment of the entire industry.

From a business perspective, this transformation is completely reasonable. The demand for AI computation is experiencing exponential growth, and tech giants are willing to pay stable and substantial fees for computing power. In contrast, Bitcoin mining revenue is highly dependent on coin price fluctuations and mining difficulty adjustments, with revenue uncertainty far exceeding that of AI infrastructure leasing. As tech giants like Alphabet, Microsoft, and Amazon compete to expand their data centers, miners with power and hardware resources naturally choose to serve these more stable clients.

Three Major Trends in Fund Flow

Hedging demand drives precious metals

Geopolitical tensions, debt ceiling disputes, and inflation concerns are driving investors towards gold and silver, with gold reaching a new high of $4,475 and silver approaching $70, as traditional safe-haven assets regain popularity.

AI Infrastructure Investment Frenzy

The $4.75 billion acquisition by Alphabet is just the tip of the iceberg, as tech giants compete to expand data centers, cryptocurrency miners transform into HPC service providers, and capital flows into the upstream and downstream of the AI ecosystem.

### Bitcoin lacks catalysts

Institutional capital has not completely withdrawn from risk assets, but has instead reallocated to safer precious metals and higher growth areas like AI. Bitcoin lacks strong and immediate catalysts, falling into a dilemma.

$27.4 billion options expiration adds to the woes

![Bitcoin Options]###https://img-cdn.gateio.im/webp-social/moments-87a9b3933a-f6fbd1ae5b-153d09-6d5686.webp(

(Source: Deribit)

This week, approximately $27.4 billion worth of Bitcoin and Ethereum options are set to expire on the Deribit exchange, causing traders to be extra cautious. There are over 268,000 open contracts on the Deribit platform, with call options concentrated around strike prices of $100,000 and $120,000, while put options are focused around $85,000.

The market generally believes that $96,000 could be the “maximum pain point”, at which most options may expire worthless. This market pattern typically triggers volatility brought about by hedging trades, with prices constrained near key levels during the recent consolidation between the $87,600 support and $90,000 resistance.

From a technical perspective, Bitcoin has retraced 30% from its peak of over $125,000 in December 2025 and is currently in a critical consolidation range. Optimistic analysts believe that based on liquidity trends, the asset may further rise to higher target levels such as $153,000. However, bears are focused on a drop below $87,600; if this support level is lost, the target price could fall to $80,000.

Option expirations are usually accompanied by sharp volatility, as market makers need to adjust their hedge positions. In the current context where gold and AI stocks are attracting strong capital, the selling pressure faced by Bitcoin may be amplified. If a large number of call options expire worthless, the related hedging buy orders will also disappear, which could further depress spot prices.

) The narrative of digital gold faces challenges

Current market trends indicate that investors are clearly favoring tangible assets and investment projects with dominant growth prospects, rather than cryptocurrencies. Institutional capital has not completely withdrawn from risk assets, but has been reallocated to what they consider safer precious metals “devaluation trades” and high growth potential areas in artificial intelligence.

This poses a fundamental challenge to the narrative of “Bitcoin as digital gold.” When physical gold hits a historic high while Bitcoin struggles below $90,000, investors naturally question: why not directly hold the better-performing gold? When the return on silver can also rival that of Bitcoin, where is Bitcoin's unique value proposition?

ByteTree's perspective may offer a glimmer of hope: when the momentum of precious metals and AI begins to wane, Bitcoin will enter the scene. However, the issue is that this rotation's time window could last for months or even several quarters. During this period, Bitcoin holders must endure the pressure of ongoing capital outflows, as well as the psychological torment of the “digital gold” narrative being questioned.