Something unusual is happening across global markets.
And it's showing up most clearly in what investors are leaving and where they're going instead.
Only last week, we were celebrating the largest crypto inflows in months. Today, crypto exchange-traded funds (ETFs) marked one of their largest outflow weeks on record, just as gold pushed past a historic milestone. The contrast is stark and increasingly hard to ignore.
Related: Are crypto ETFs actually hurting bitcoin and ethereum adoption?
Crypto funds flip to heavy outflows
Crypto ETFs saw $1.73 billion in outflows last week, marking their worst week since mid-November 2025, according to CoinShares.
The reversal followed the prior week's $2.2 billion of inflows and notes how fragile sentiment remains in digital asset markets.
The bulk of last week's outflows came from the market's two largest assets. Bitcoin (BTC) saw withdrawals of about $1.09 billion, while Ethereum (ETH) recorded roughly $630 million in outflows.
Altcoins were mixed. XRP and Sui saw modest outflows, while Solana managed $17.1 million in inflows, bucking the broader trend.
Interestingly, short-Bitcoin products saw small inflows. This shows that bearish positioning hasn't fully unwound since the Oct. 10 market drawdown.
CoinShares head of research James Butterfill pointed to a mix of macro and market-specific pressures.
Dimming expectations for interest rate cuts, negative price momentum, and frustration that crypto has not benefited from the broader "debasement trade" all contributed to the pullback.
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Big issuers feel the pressure
Outflows were widespread across providers, but the largest issuers took the biggest hit.
BlackRock's iShares crypto products led with $951 million in outflows.
Fidelity Investments followed with $469 million, while Grayscale Investments saw $270 million leave its funds.
Regionally, the selling was heavily concentrated in the United States, totaling about $1.8 billion.
As a result, total crypto fund assets under management fell to $178 billion, down from $193 billion a week earlier.
Gold sends a very different signal
While crypto bled, gold did the opposite.
Gold surged past $5,000 per ounce for the first time, trading near $5,080 at press time. Over the past 30 days, it's up more than 15%, with year-on-year gains exceeding 80%. Silver also joined the rally, topping $100 an ounce for the first time.
Gold's demand as a safe-haven has been fueled by geopolitical tension, including friction between the U.S. and NATO over Greenland, and renewed trade threats from Donald Trump.
Over the weekend, the president of the United States threatened to impose 100% tariffs on Canada over the latter's trade relations with China.
Expectations of further Federal Reserve rate cuts , central bank buying and a weaker dollar have added fuel.
Some observers see warning signs. Market commentator 0xNobler warned last week that gold and copper, traditionally "fear assets," are rising together, a rare "correlation break" historically associated with major economic stress.
"This isn't a healthy rotation into growth. This is a full-blown panic exit....The market is pricing in unavoidable currency debasement. It understands the sovereign debt math is impossible. Stocks are being liquidated to hoard gold and silver,"he wrote.
Meanwhile, market analyst and "Mad Money" host Jim Cramer doubled down on gold, calling himself a "gold bug" while warning against silver.
For those of us who are aware of the power of the "Inverse Cramer" effect, it is yet to be seen if his endorsement will have any effect on the gold price.
Related: Balancing bitcoin and gold is a powerful new strategy for portfolio diversification
This story was originally published by TheStreet on Jan 26, 2026, where it first appeared in the Trading News & Analysis section. Add TheStreet as a Preferred Source by clicking here.
