Schiff presses sell call
Peter Schiff used Monday’s market action to renew his sell call on bitcoin. In a post on X, he said stocks were up, including tech and precious metals miners, while gold and silver also gained. Bitcoin, he added, was down again and trading below $75,000. He told holders there was a short window before a crash and urged them to sell before it closed. Later that day, he repeated the view, saying bitcoin would go lower.
That is a direct warning from a longtime critic. It is not a consensus call. Still, it landed as bitcoin struggled to hold a key round number.
Bitcoin lags gold and stocks
Schiff’s main point is divergence. Since the midterm elections, U.S. stocks are roughly flat, he said, while bitcoin is down more than 4%. Gold is up more than 5%, silver nearly 7%, and gold mining stocks more than 18%. He called it a sign of things to come and told investors to position accordingly.
Monday fit that pattern. Gold rose about 1.7% to settle at $4,141.14 an ounce. Bitcoin fell to $73,477 as more than $1 billion in speculative bets were wiped out. It later stayed below $75,000 and traded near $74,600 at the time of writing.
Schiff has been pointing at this level for weeks. On Oct. 24, with bitcoin just under $80,000, he said the next stop was likely $75,000. He also warned ETF holders they faced a long weekend because they could not sell until Monday. A week later, after gold dropped sharply, he called the selloff an unexpected gift for buyers.
Signals and pushback
There are other signs that support caution. U.S. spot bitcoin ETFs saw $1.28 billion in outflows last week, the largest weekly outflow in about four months. Bitcoin also closed below its 50-week moving average, ending a seven-week run of closes above it. That run had held even after Binance’s $6.3 billion hack.
Miners are adding pressure. MARA said Monday it sold 13,597 BTC after the third quarter to repay $750 million in loans. Analyst Benjamin Cowen, who had argued that falling equities would drag bitcoin lower in the fourth quarter, said he sees more pain ahead for crypto.
The bulls are not backing down. Analyst Sean Hagan called the current level an excellent buying opportunity for long-term believers. Derivatives positioning also leans against Schiff’s call. About $1.3 billion in short positions would be liquidated if bitcoin climbed back to $79,000, compared with about $400 million in long risk down to $72,000. Ark Invest’s Cathie Wood also disagreed late yesterday, saying gold is going down and bitcoin will keep gaining on it.
Maybe Schiff is early. Maybe he is right. The next move in bitcoin will give both sides a clearer answer.
