As of now, Bitcoin (BTC-USD) has shown volatile performance in the first half of October. As the largest cryptocurrency by market capitalization, Bitcoin saw a significant increase at the beginning of this month as investors sought to hedge against the uncertainty brought on by a potential U.S. government shutdown. However, last Friday, Bitcoin's price plummeted from $121,000 to $104,000 amidst President Trump's threats of imposing a 100% tariff on Chinese goods. The decline in Bitcoin becomes even more pronounced when contrasted with gold (GC=F), whose price has surged to over $4,300, marking an 18% increase over the past month. In comparison, Bitcoin has not yet recovered from Friday's drop, with its exchange rate against the U.S. dollar down over 9% during the same period. "Currently, due to gold's strong momentum and lower volatility, funds are clearly favoring gold," said Sean Farrell, head of digital asset strategy at Fundstrat, in an interview with Yahoo Finance. "Moreover, central banks act as structural buyers, providing a quasi-support for gold trading." He noted that investors may eventually shift from gold to Bitcoin, as precious metals tend to signal the start of bullish trends for cryptocurrencies. On Friday morning, Bitcoin was trading around $105,000. Veteran Wall Street strategist Ed Yardeni explained in a report on Wednesday the reasons behind Bitcoin's sharp decline last week. "The cryptocurrency derivatives ecosystem exacerbated Bitcoin's recent drop," Yardeni wrote, "As prices suddenly fell, market liquidity dried up, and over $19 billion worth of cryptocurrency futures and leveraged positions were liquidated." He stated that trading platforms automatically close high-risk trades during rapid price declines to prevent larger losses. Traders also observed that one "whale" (an investor holding a large amount of cryptocurrency) profited $192 million by shorting Bitcoin before this sudden crash, potentially intensifying the sell-off pressure. The same wallet made another bearish bet on Sunday evening. According to data from Compass Point Research, cryptocurrency bulls initially had strong expectations for October, as Bitcoin has shown gains in 10 out of the last 12 years during this month. Last week, Bitcoin's price reached historical highs of over $126,000, coinciding with record-breaking prices for precious metals—something Wall Street refers to as "devaluation trading," which is a strategy to hedge against the depreciation of fiat currency. Cryptocurrency analysts predict that Bitcoin will end this year at a higher price. JPMorgan expects a target price of $165,000, while Citigroup forecasts Bitcoin will reach $133,000 by the end of this year and rise to $181,000 by the end of 2026.