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Bitcoin Is Not the New Gold: A Comparison of Volatility, Correlation, and Portfolio Performance

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  • Klein, Tony
  • Hien, Pham Thu
  • Walther, Thomas

Abstract

Cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin are establishing themselves as an investment asset and are often named the New Gold. This study, however, shows that the two assets could barely be more different. Firstly, we analyze and compare conditional variance properties of Bitcoin and Gold as well as other assets and nd differences in their structure. Secondly, we implement a BEKK-GARCH model to estimate time-varying conditional correlations. Gold plays an important role in financial markets with flight-to-quality in times of market distress. Our results show that Bitcoin behaves as the exact opposite and it positively correlates with downward markets. Lastly, we analyze the properties of Bitcoin as portfolio component and nd no evidence for hedging capabilities. We conclude that Bitcoin and Gold feature fundamentally different properties as assets and linkages to equity markets. Our results hold for the broad cryptocurrency index CRIX. As of now, Bitcoin does not reflect any distinctive properties of Gold other than asymmetric response in variance.

Suggested Citation

  • Klein, Tony & Hien, Pham Thu & Walther, Thomas, 2018. "Bitcoin Is Not the New Gold: A Comparison of Volatility, Correlation, and Portfolio Performance," QBS Working Paper Series 2018/01, Queen's University Belfast, Queen's Business School.
    • Handle: RePEc:zbw:qmsrps:201801
    DOI: 10.2139/ssrn.3146845
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    Cited by:

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    3. Zhang, Dingxuan & Sun, Yuying & Duan, Hongbo & Hong, Yongmiao & Wang, Shouyang, 2023. "Speculation or currency? Multi-scale analysis of cryptocurrencies—The case of Bitcoin," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 88(C).
    4. Yousaf, Imran & Pham, Linh & Goodell, John W., 2023. "Interconnectedness between healthcare tokens and healthcare stocks: Evidence from a quantile VAR approach," International Review of Economics & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 86(C), pages 271-283.
    5. Kamer-Ainur Aivaz & Ionela Florea Munteanu & Flavius Valentin Jakubowicz, 2023. "Bitcoin in Conventional Markets: A Study on Blockchain-Induced Reliability, Investment Slopes, Financial and Accounting Aspects," Mathematics, MDPI, vol. 11(21), pages 1-20, November.
    6. Karimi, Parinaz & Mirzaee Ghazani, Majid & Ebrahimi, Seyed Babak, 2023. "Analyzing spillover effects of selected cryptocurrencies on gold and brent crude oil under COVID-19 pandemic: Evidence from GJR-GARCH and EVT copula methods," Resources Policy, Elsevier, vol. 85(PB).
    7. Kokulo K. Lawuobahsumo & Bernardina Algieri & Leonardo Iania & Arturo Leccadito, 2022. "Exploring Dependence Relationships between Bitcoin and Commodity Returns: An Assessment Using the Gerber Cross-Correlation," Commodities, MDPI, vol. 1(1), pages 1-16, August.
    8. Xu, Lei & Kinkyo, Takuji, 2023. "Hedging effectiveness of bitcoin and gold: Evidence from G7 stock markets," Journal of International Financial Markets, Institutions and Money, Elsevier, vol. 85(C).
    9. Jiqian Wang & Feng Ma & Elie Bouri & Yangli Guo, 2023. "Which factors drive Bitcoin volatility: Macroeconomic, technical, or both?," Journal of Forecasting, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 42(4), pages 970-988, July.
    10. Walther, Thomas & Klein, Tony & Bouri, Elie, 2018. "Exogenous Drivers of Bitcoin and Cryptocurrency Volatility – A Mixed Data Sampling Approach to Forecasting," QBS Working Paper Series 2018/02, Queen's University Belfast, Queen's Business School.
    11. 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.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    BEKK; Bitcoin; CRIX; Cryptocurrency; Gold; GARCH; Conditional Correlation; Asymmetry; Long Memory;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • C10 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Econometric and Statistical Methods and Methodology: General - - - General
    • C58 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Econometric Modeling - - - Financial Econometrics
    • G11 - Financial Economics - - General Financial Markets - - - Portfolio Choice; Investment Decisions

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