IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/ecofin/v62y2022ics106294082200095x.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Is Bitcoin a better hedging and safe-haven investment than traditional assets against currencies? Evidence from the time-frequency domain approach

Author

Listed:
  • Yang, Cai
  • Wang, Xinyi
  • Gao, Wang

Abstract

Many studies have discussed hedges and safe havens against stocks, but few studies focus on the hedging/safe-haven performance of assets against the currency market over different time horizons. This paper studies the connectedness, hedging and safe-haven properties of Bitcoin/gold/crude oil/commodities against six currencies across multiple investment horizons, placing a particular focus on the performance of these assets during the recent COVID-19 outbreak. Our findings suggest that the overall dependence between assets and the currency market is the strongest in the short term, and Bitcoin is the least dependent across all investment horizons. The dynamic relationships between the four assets and the currency market vary with timescales. Bitcoin offers better hedging capability in the long term and commodities emerge as the most favorable option for the optimal portfolio of currency over all time horizons. Further analysis shows that assets are better at helping investments reduce risk in the initial stages of the pandemic, and gold is an effective and robust safe haven for currencies.

Suggested Citation

  • Yang, Cai & Wang, Xinyi & Gao, Wang, 2022. "Is Bitcoin a better hedging and safe-haven investment than traditional assets against currencies? Evidence from the time-frequency domain approach," The North American Journal of Economics and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 62(C).
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:ecofin:v:62:y:2022:i:c:s106294082200095x
    DOI: 10.1016/j.najef.2022.101747
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S106294082200095X
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.najef.2022.101747?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Dirk G. Baur & Brian M. Lucey, 2010. "Is Gold a Hedge or a Safe Haven? An Analysis of Stocks, Bonds and Gold," The Financial Review, Eastern Finance Association, vol. 45(2), pages 217-229, May.
    2. Wu, Shan & Tong, Mu & Yang, Zhongyi & Derbali, Abdelkader, 2019. "Does gold or Bitcoin hedge economic policy uncertainty?," Finance Research Letters, Elsevier, vol. 31(C), pages 171-178.
    3. Mensi, Walid & Sensoy, Ahmet & Aslan, Aylin & Kang, Sang Hoon, 2019. "High-frequency asymmetric volatility connectedness between Bitcoin and major precious metals markets," The North American Journal of Economics and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 50(C).
    4. Jozef Baruník & Tomáš Křehlík, 2018. "Measuring the Frequency Dynamics of Financial Connectedness and Systemic Risk," Journal of Financial Econometrics, Oxford University Press, vol. 16(2), pages 271-296.
    5. Bhatia, Vaneet & Das, Debojyoti & Kumar, Surya Bhushan, 2020. "Hedging effectiveness of precious metals across frequencies: Evidence from Wavelet based Dynamic Conditional Correlation analysis," Physica A: Statistical Mechanics and its Applications, Elsevier, vol. 541(C).
    6. Baur, Dirk G. & McDermott, Thomas K., 2010. "Is gold a safe haven? International evidence," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 34(8), pages 1886-1898, August.
    7. Al-Awadhi, Abdullah M. & Alsaifi, Khaled & Al-Awadhi, Ahmad & Alhammadi, Salah, 2020. "Death and contagious infectious diseases: Impact of the COVID-19 virus on stock market returns," Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Finance, Elsevier, vol. 27(C).
    8. Wen, Fenghua & Cao, Jiahui & Liu, Zhen & Wang, Xiong, 2021. "Dynamic volatility spillovers and investment strategies between the Chinese stock market and commodity markets," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 76(C).
    9. Bouri, Elie & Gupta, Rangan & Tiwari, Aviral Kumar & Roubaud, David, 2017. "Does Bitcoin hedge global uncertainty? Evidence from wavelet-based quantile-in-quantile regressions," Finance Research Letters, Elsevier, vol. 23(C), pages 87-95.
    10. Zheng, Biao & Zhang, Yuquan W. & Qu, Fang & Geng, Yong & Yu, Haishan, 2022. "Do rare earths drive volatility spillover in crude oil, renewable energy, and high-technology markets? — A wavelet-based BEKK- GARCH-X approach," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 251(C).
    11. Umar, Zaghum & Gubareva, Mariya, 2020. "A time–frequency analysis of the impact of the Covid-19 induced panic on the volatility of currency and cryptocurrency markets," Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Finance, Elsevier, vol. 28(C).
    12. Kroner, Kenneth F. & Sultan, Jahangir, 1993. "Time-Varying Distributions and Dynamic Hedging with Foreign Currency Futures," Journal of Financial and Quantitative Analysis, Cambridge University Press, vol. 28(4), pages 535-551, December.
    13. Conlon, Thomas & McGee, Richard, 2020. "Safe haven or risky hazard? Bitcoin during the Covid-19 bear market," Finance Research Letters, Elsevier, vol. 35(C).
    14. Zeng, Sheng & Liu, Xinchun & Li, Xiafei & Wei, Qi & Shang, Yue, 2019. "Information dominance among hedging assets: Evidence from return and volatility directional spillovers in time and frequency domains," Physica A: Statistical Mechanics and its Applications, Elsevier, vol. 536(C).
    15. Li, Sile & Lucey, Brian M., 2017. "Reassessing the role of precious metals as safe havens–What colour is your haven and why?," Journal of Commodity Markets, Elsevier, vol. 7(C), pages 1-14.
    16. Boubaker, Heni & Cunado, Juncal & Gil-Alana, Luis A. & Gupta, Rangan, 2020. "Global crises and gold as a safe haven: Evidence from over seven and a half centuries of data," Physica A: Statistical Mechanics and its Applications, Elsevier, vol. 540(C).
    17. Bredin, Don & Conlon, Thomas & Potì, Valerio, 2015. "Does gold glitter in the long-run? Gold as a hedge and safe haven across time and investment horizon," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 41(C), pages 320-328.
    18. Ederington, Louis H, 1979. "The Hedging Performance of the New Futures Markets," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 34(1), pages 157-170, March.
    19. Maghyereh, Aktham I. & Abdoh, Hussein & Awartani, Basel, 2019. "Connectedness and hedging between gold and Islamic securities: A new evidence from time-frequency domain approaches," Pacific-Basin Finance Journal, Elsevier, vol. 54(C), pages 13-28.
    20. Engle, Robert, 2002. "Dynamic Conditional Correlation: A Simple Class of Multivariate Generalized Autoregressive Conditional Heteroskedasticity Models," Journal of Business & Economic Statistics, American Statistical Association, vol. 20(3), pages 339-350, July.
    21. Diebold, Francis X. & Yilmaz, Kamil, 2012. "Better to give than to receive: Predictive directional measurement of volatility spillovers," International Journal of Forecasting, Elsevier, vol. 28(1), pages 57-66.
    22. Akhtaruzzaman, Md & Boubaker, Sabri & Lucey, Brian M. & Sensoy, Ahmet, 2021. "Is gold a hedge or a safe-haven asset in the COVID–19 crisis?," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 102(C).
    23. Kroner, Kenneth F & Ng, Victor K, 1998. "Modeling Asymmetric Comovements of Asset Returns," The Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 11(4), pages 817-844.
    24. Arif Billah Dar & Debasish Maitra, 2017. "Is gold a weak or strong hedge and safe haven against stocks? Robust evidences from three major gold-consuming countries," Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 49(53), pages 5491-5503, November.
    25. Harald Hau & Hélène Rey, 2006. "Exchange Rates, Equity Prices, and Capital Flows," The Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 19(1), pages 273-317.
    26. Du, Jiangze & Wang, Jying-Nan & Hsu, Yuan-Teng & Lai, Kin Keung, 2018. "The importance of hedging currency risk: Evidence from CNY and CNH," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 75(C), pages 81-92.
    27. Chuliá, Helena & Fernández, Julián & Uribe, Jorge M., 2018. "Currency downside risk, liquidity, and financial stability," Journal of International Money and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 89(C), pages 83-102.
    28. Goodell, John W., 2020. "COVID-19 and finance: Agendas for future research," Finance Research Letters, Elsevier, vol. 35(C).
    29. Conlon, Thomas & Corbet, Shaen & McGee, Richard J., 2020. "Are cryptocurrencies a safe haven for equity markets? An international perspective from the COVID-19 pandemic," Research in International Business and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 54(C).
    30. Rabeh KHALFAOUI & M. Boutahar & H. Boubaker, 2015. "Analyzing volatility spillovers and hedging between oil and stock markets: Evidence from wavelet analysis," Post-Print hal-03797593, HAL.
    31. Nguyen, Quynh Nga & Bedoui, Rihab & Majdoub, Najemeddine & Guesmi, Khaled & Chevallier, Julien, 2020. "Hedging and safe-haven characteristics of Gold against currencies: An investigation based on multivariate dynamic copula theory," Resources Policy, Elsevier, vol. 68(C).
    32. Urquhart, Andrew & Zhang, Hanxiong, 2019. "Is Bitcoin a hedge or safe haven for currencies? An intraday analysis," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 63(C), pages 49-57.
    33. Bouri, Elie & Shahzad, Syed Jawad Hussain & Roubaud, David & Kristoufek, Ladislav & Lucey, Brian, 2020. "Bitcoin, gold, and commodities as safe havens for stocks: New insight through wavelet analysis," The Quarterly Review of Economics and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 77(C), pages 156-164.
    34. Jin, Jingyu & Yu, Jiang & Hu, Yang & Shang, Yue, 2019. "Which one is more informative in determining price movements of hedging assets? Evidence from Bitcoin, gold and crude oil markets," Physica A: Statistical Mechanics and its Applications, Elsevier, vol. 527(C).
    35. Ferrer, Román & Shahzad, Syed Jawad Hussain & López, Raquel & Jareño, Francisco, 2018. "Time and frequency dynamics of connectedness between renewable energy stocks and crude oil prices," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 76(C), pages 1-20.
    36. Reboredo, Juan Carlos & Ugolini, Andrea & Hernandez, Jose Arreola, 2021. "Dynamic spillovers and network structure among commodity, currency, and stock markets," Resources Policy, Elsevier, vol. 74(C).
    37. Erdem, Orhan, 2020. "Freedom and stock market performance during Covid-19 outbreak," Finance Research Letters, Elsevier, vol. 36(C).
    38. Ji, Qiang & Zhang, Dayong & Zhao, Yuqian, 2020. "Searching for safe-haven assets during the COVID-19 pandemic," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 71(C).
    39. Shahzad, Syed Jawad Hussain & Bouri, Elie & Roubaud, David & Kristoufek, Ladislav & Lucey, Brian, 2019. "Is Bitcoin a better safe-haven investment than gold and commodities?," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 63(C), pages 322-330.
    40. Hsu, Shu-Han & Sheu, Chwen & Yoon, Jiho, 2021. "Risk spillovers between cryptocurrencies and traditional currencies and gold under different global economic conditions," The North American Journal of Economics and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 57(C).
    41. Jin, Jiayu & Han, Liyan & Wu, Lei & Zeng, Hongchao, 2020. "The hedging effect of green bonds on carbon market risk," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 71(C).
    42. Dai, Xingyu & Wang, Qunwei & Zha, Donglan & Zhou, Dequn, 2020. "Multi-scale dependence structure and risk contagion between oil, gold, and US exchange rate: A wavelet-based vine-copula approach," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 88(C).
    43. Belhassine, Olfa & Karamti, Chiraz, 2021. "Volatility spillovers and hedging effectiveness between oil and stock markets: Evidence from a wavelet-based and structural breaks analysis," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 102(C).
    44. Hkiri, Besma & Hammoudeh, Shawkat & Aloui, Chaker & Yarovaya, Larisa, 2017. "Are Islamic indexes a safe haven for investors? An analysis of total, directional and net volatility spillovers between conventional and Islamic indexes and importance of crisis periods," Pacific-Basin Finance Journal, Elsevier, vol. 43(C), pages 124-150.
    45. Khalfaoui, R. & Boutahar, M. & Boubaker, H., 2015. "Analyzing volatility spillovers and hedging between oil and stock markets: Evidence from wavelet analysis," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 49(C), pages 540-549.
    46. Dutta, Anupam & Das, Debojyoti & Jana, R.K. & Vo, Xuan Vinh, 2020. "COVID-19 and oil market crash: Revisiting the safe haven property of gold and Bitcoin," Resources Policy, Elsevier, vol. 69(C).
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Huang, Zishan & Zhu, Huiming & Hau, Liya & Deng, Xi, 2023. "Time-frequency co-movement and network connectedness between green bond and financial asset markets: Evidence from multiscale TVP-VAR analysis," The North American Journal of Economics and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 67(C).
    2. Ştefan Cristian Gherghina & Liliana Nicoleta Simionescu, 2023. "Exploring the asymmetric effect of COVID-19 pandemic news on the cryptocurrency market: evidence from nonlinear autoregressive distributed lag approach and frequency domain causality," Financial Innovation, Springer;Southwestern University of Finance and Economics, vol. 9(1), pages 1-58, December.
    3. Qian Wang & Yu Wei & Yifeng Zhang & Yuntong Liu, 2023. "Evaluating the Safe-Haven Abilities of Bitcoin and Gold for Crude Oil Market: Evidence During the COVID-19 Pandemic," Evaluation Review, , vol. 47(3), pages 391-432, June.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Wang, Peijin & Zhang, Hongwei & Yang, Cai & Guo, Yaoqi, 2021. "Time and frequency dynamics of connectedness and hedging performance in global stock markets: Bitcoin versus conventional hedges," Research in International Business and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 58(C).
    2. Esparcia, Carlos & Jareño, Francisco & Umar, Zaghum, 2022. "Revisiting the safe haven role of Gold across time and frequencies during the COVID-19 pandemic," The North American Journal of Economics and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 61(C).
    3. Disli, Mustafa & Nagayev, Ruslan & Salim, Kinan & Rizkiah, Siti K. & Aysan, Ahmet F., 2021. "In search of safe haven assets during COVID-19 pandemic: An empirical analysis of different investor types," Research in International Business and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 58(C).
    4. Văn, Lê & Bảo, Nguyễn Khắc Quốc, 2022. "The relationship between global stock and precious metals under Covid-19 and happiness perspectives," Resources Policy, Elsevier, vol. 77(C).
    5. Cagli, Efe Caglar & Mandaci, Pinar Evrim, 2023. "Time and frequency connectedness of uncertainties in cryptocurrency, stock, currency, energy, and precious metals markets," Emerging Markets Review, Elsevier, vol. 55(C).
    6. Akhtaruzzaman, Md & Boubaker, Sabri & Lucey, Brian M. & Sensoy, Ahmet, 2021. "Is gold a hedge or a safe-haven asset in the COVID–19 crisis?," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 102(C).
    7. Enilov, Martin & Mensi, Walid & Stankov, Petar, 2023. "Does safe haven exist? Tail risks of commodity markets during COVID-19 pandemic," Journal of Commodity Markets, Elsevier, vol. 29(C).
    8. Diniz-Maganini, Natalia & Diniz, Eduardo H. & Rasheed, Abdul A., 2021. "Bitcoin’s price efficiency and safe haven properties during the COVID-19 pandemic: A comparison," Research in International Business and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 58(C).
    9. Qian Wang & Yu Wei & Yifeng Zhang & Yuntong Liu, 2023. "Evaluating the Safe-Haven Abilities of Bitcoin and Gold for Crude Oil Market: Evidence During the COVID-19 Pandemic," Evaluation Review, , vol. 47(3), pages 391-432, June.
    10. Kamal, Javed Bin & Hassan, M. Kabir, 2022. "Asymmetric connectedness between cryptocurrency environment attention index and green assets," The Journal of Economic Asymmetries, Elsevier, vol. 25(C).
    11. Ihsan Erdem Kayral & Ahmed Jeribi & Sahar Loukil, 2023. "Are Bitcoin and Gold a Safe Haven during COVID-19 and the 2022 Russia–Ukraine War?," JRFM, MDPI, vol. 16(4), pages 1-22, April.
    12. Hasan, Md. Bokhtiar & Hassan, M. Kabir & Rashid, Md. Mamunur & Alhenawi, Yasser, 2021. "Are safe haven assets really safe during the 2008 global financial crisis and COVID-19 pandemic?," Global Finance Journal, Elsevier, vol. 50(C).
    13. Hasan, Md. Bokhtiar & Kabir Hassan, M. & Gider, Zeynullah & Tahsin Rafia, Humaira & Rashid, Mamunur, 2023. "Searching hedging instruments against diverse global risks and uncertainties," The North American Journal of Economics and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 66(C).
    14. Rizvi, Syed Kumail Abbas & Naqvi, Bushra & Mirza, Nawazish & Umar, Muhammad, 2022. "Safe haven properties of green, Islamic, and crypto assets and investor's proclivity towards treasury and gold," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 115(C).
    15. Chemkha, Rahma & BenSaïda, Ahmed & Ghorbel, Ahmed & Tayachi, Tahar, 2021. "Hedge and safe haven properties during COVID-19: Evidence from Bitcoin and gold," The Quarterly Review of Economics and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 82(C), pages 71-85.
    16. Kaczmarek, Tomasz & Będowska-Sójka, Barbara & Grobelny, Przemysław & Perez, Katarzyna, 2022. "False Safe Haven Assets: Evidence From the Target Volatility Strategy Based on Recurrent Neural Network," Research in International Business and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 60(C).
    17. Mokni, Khaled & Youssef, Manel & Ajmi, Ahdi Noomen, 2022. "COVID-19 pandemic and economic policy uncertainty: The first test on the hedging and safe haven properties of cryptocurrencies," Research in International Business and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 60(C).
    18. Ren, Xiaohang & Wang, Rui & Duan, Kun & Chen, Jinyu, 2022. "Dynamics of the sheltering role of Bitcoin against crude oil market crash with varying severity of the COVID-19: A comparison with gold," Research in International Business and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 62(C).
    19. Guo, Xiaochun & Lu, Fengbin & Wei, Yunjie, 2021. "Capture the contagion network of bitcoin – Evidence from pre and mid COVID-19," Research in International Business and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 58(C).
    20. Chkili, Walid & Ben Rejeb, Aymen & Arfaoui, Mongi, 2021. "Does bitcoin provide hedge to Islamic stock markets for pre- and during COVID-19 outbreak? A comparative analysis with gold," Resources Policy, Elsevier, vol. 74(C).

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Bitcoin; Currency; Hedge; Safe haven; Time-frequency; COVID-19;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • C32 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Multiple or Simultaneous Equation Models; Multiple Variables - - - Time-Series Models; Dynamic Quantile Regressions; Dynamic Treatment Effect Models; Diffusion Processes; State Space Models
    • G11 - Financial Economics - - General Financial Markets - - - Portfolio Choice; Investment Decisions
    • G15 - Financial Economics - - General Financial Markets - - - International Financial Markets

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:ecofin:v:62:y:2022:i:c:s106294082200095x. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/locate/inca/620163 .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.