# BIS Data Reveals: Retail Gold Purchases Doubled Over Past Six Months While Institutions Accelerate Selling

According to Cointelegraph, the Bank for International Settlements (BIS) pointed out in its quarterly report released on Monday that the gold market has been displaying a remarkable and notable divergence over the past six months.

Data shows that retail gold purchases have surged threefold over the past six months, increasing from approximately $20 billion to approximately $60 billion; while Wall Street institutions have been accelerating sales over the past four months, creating two completely opposite market forces.

Kobeissi Letter, citing BIS data, notes that despite retail investors' purchases skyrocketing more than threefold over the past 6 months, institutions sold $1 billion worth of gold during the same period, with capital outflows accelerating further especially after the market crash in January.

This situation of "retail investors pouring in frantically while institutions quietly exiting" ultimately triggered violent fluctuations in the precious metals market. According to the latest GoldPrice data, gold prices have declined 11% from their all-time high at the end of January, while silver has plummeted 38%.

BIS points out that behind this sharp reversal, "daily rebalancing of precious metals leveraged ETFs and margin-triggered liquidations amplified volatility," particularly in the silver market, as smaller speculative derivatives traders had accumulated high-leverage long positions before the crash.

Gold surged 60% over the past year, triggering market speculation about "capital migration"—suggesting that gold's strong performance may come at the expense of Bitcoin, given the competitive relationship between the two as store-of-value assets.

This speculation is not without reason. The total market capitalization of the crypto market has significantly evaporated approximately 43% from its October peak last year, combined with noticeably cooling retail enthusiasm, adjustments to market expectations regarding Federal Reserve monetary policy, and the recent strength of the U.S. dollar index, which directly triggered price corrections in the crypto market.

BIS analysis concludes that the decline in gold and silver prices is tightly linked to U.S. dollar strength. Since late January, the U.S. dollar index has risen 4.7%, and coupled with the shift in monetary policy expectations during the same period, these factors jointly suppressed gold price performance.

In summary, the sharp decline in gold and silver prices is largely influenced by expectations of U.S. dollar appreciation, as looking purely at changes in macroeconomic fundamentals cannot fully explain this phenomenon.

#比特币 # U.S. Dollar Index