IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/arx/papers/2512.12815.html

The Impact of Bitcoin ETF Approval on Bitcoin's Hedging Properties Against Traditional Assets

Author

Listed:
  • Yihan Hong
  • Hengxiang Feng
  • Yinghan Wang
  • Boxuan Li

Abstract

The approval of the Bitcoin Spot ETF in January 2024 marked a transformative event in cryptocurrency markets, signaling increased institutional adoption and integration into traditional finance. This study examines Bitcoin's changing relationships with traditional assets, including equities, gold, and fiat currencies, following this milestone. Using rolling correlation analysis, Chow tests, and DCC-GARCH models, we found that Bitcoin's correlation with the S\&P 500 increased significantly post-ETF approval, indicating stronger alignment with equities. Its relationship with gold stabilized near zero, while its correlation with the U.S. Dollar Index remained consistently negative, reflecting its continued independence from fiat currencies. These findings offer insights into Bitcoin's evolving role in portfolios, implications for market stability, and future research opportunities on cryptocurrency integration into traditional financial systems.

Suggested Citation

  • Yihan Hong & Hengxiang Feng & Yinghan Wang & Boxuan Li, 2025. "The Impact of Bitcoin ETF Approval on Bitcoin's Hedging Properties Against Traditional Assets," Papers 2512.12815, arXiv.org.
  • Handle: RePEc:arx:papers:2512.12815
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://arxiv.org/pdf/2512.12815
    File Function: Latest version
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Smales, L.A., 2019. "Bitcoin as a safe haven: Is it even worth considering?," Finance Research Letters, Elsevier, vol. 30(C), pages 385-393.
    2. Amos Tversky & Daniel Kahneman, 1991. "Loss Aversion in Riskless Choice: A Reference-Dependent Model," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 106(4), pages 1039-1061.
    3. Angelo Ranaldo & Paul Söderlind, 2010. "Safe Haven Currencies," Review of Finance, European Finance Association, vol. 14(3), pages 385-407.
    4. Corbet, Shaen & Meegan, Andrew & Larkin, Charles & Lucey, Brian & Yarovaya, Larisa, 2018. "Exploring the dynamic relationships between cryptocurrencies and other financial assets," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 165(C), pages 28-34.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    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. 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).
    2. Conlon, Thomas & McGee, Richard, 2020. "Safe haven or risky hazard? Bitcoin during the Covid-19 bear market," Finance Research Letters, Elsevier, vol. 35(C).
    3. Rehman, Mobeen Ur & Katsiampa, Paraskevi & Zeitun, Rami & Vo, Xuan Vinh, 2023. "Conditional dependence structure and risk spillovers between Bitcoin and fiat currencies," Emerging Markets Review, Elsevier, vol. 55(C).
    4. David Y. Aharon & Zaghum Umar & Xuan Vinh Vo, 2021. "Dynamic spillovers between the term structure of interest rates, bitcoin, and safe-haven currencies," Financial Innovation, Springer;Southwestern University of Finance and Economics, vol. 7(1), pages 1-25, December.
    5. Huang, Yingying & Duan, Kun & Mishra, Tapas, 2021. "Is Bitcoin really more than a diversifier? A pre- and post-COVID-19 analysis," Finance Research Letters, Elsevier, vol. 43(C).
    6. Belanes, Amel & Saâdaoui, Foued & Amirat, Amina & Rabbouch, Hana, 2024. "Safety assessment of cryptocurrencies as risky assets during the COVID-19 pandemic," Physica A: Statistical Mechanics and its Applications, Elsevier, vol. 651(C).
    7. Janani Sri S. & Parthajit Kayal & G. Balasubramanian, 2022. "Can Equity be Safe-haven for Investment?," Journal of Emerging Market Finance, Institute for Financial Management and Research, vol. 21(1), pages 32-63, March.
    8. Aurelio F. Bariviera & Ignasi Merediz‐Solà, 2021. "Where Do We Stand In Cryptocurrencies Economic Research? A Survey Based On Hybrid Analysis," Journal of Economic Surveys, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 35(2), pages 377-407, April.
    9. Ahmed, Walid M.A., 2021. "Stock market reactions to upside and downside volatility of Bitcoin: A quantile analysis," The North American Journal of Economics and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 57(C).
    10. Wang, Qiyu & Chong, Terence Tai-Leung, 2021. "Factor pricing of cryptocurrencies," The North American Journal of Economics and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 57(C).
    11. Emmanuel Joel Aikins Abakah & Aviral Kumar Tiwari & Chi‐Chuan Lee & Matthew Ntow‐Gyamfi, 2023. "Quantile price convergence and spillover effects among Bitcoin, Fintech, and artificial intelligence stocks," International Review of Finance, International Review of Finance Ltd., vol. 23(1), pages 187-205, March.
    12. Aslanidis, Nektarios & Bariviera, Aurelio F. & Martínez-Ibañez, Oscar, 2019. "An analysis of cryptocurrencies conditional cross correlations," Finance Research Letters, Elsevier, vol. 31(C), pages 130-137.
    13. Jareño, Francisco & González, María de la O & Tolentino, Marta & Sierra, Karen, 2020. "Bitcoin and gold price returns: A quantile regression and NARDL analysis," Resources Policy, Elsevier, vol. 67(C).
    14. Elie Bouri & Rangan Gupta & Chi keung marco Lau & David Roubaud, 2021. "Risk aversion and Bitcoin returns in extreme quantiles," Economics Bulletin, AccessEcon, vol. 41(3), pages 1374-1386.
    15. 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).
    16. Goodell, John W. & Goutte, Stephane, 2021. "Diversifying equity with cryptocurrencies during COVID-19," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 76(C).
    17. Noman, Abu Hanifa Md & Karim, Muhammad Mahmudul & Hassan, Mohammad Kabir & Khan, Muhammad Asif & Pervin, Sajeda, 2023. "COVID-19 pandemic and the dynamics of major investable assets: What gives shelter to investors?," International Review of Economics & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 86(C), pages 14-30.
    18. 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).
    19. Jin, Lifu & Zheng, Bo & Jiang, Xiongfei & Xiong, Long & Zhang, Jiu & Ma, Jiahao, 2025. "Dynamic cross-correlation in emerging cryptocurrency market," Physica A: Statistical Mechanics and its Applications, Elsevier, vol. 668(C).
    20. BRIK, Hatem & El OUAKDI, Jihene & FTITI, Zied, 2022. "Roles of stable versus nonstable cryptocurrencies in Bitcoin market dynamics," Research in International Business and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 62(C).

    More about this item

    NEP fields

    This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports:

    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:arx:papers:2512.12815. 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: arXiv administrators (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://arxiv.org/ .

    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.