Bitcoin outperforms gold and stocks during Iran war

It’s been a while since I had the chance to say this, but in the week and a half since the US-Israeli attack on Iran, Bitcoin has outperformed gold and most stock markets.

Since the start of the war, the largest cryptocurrency has risen by about 7%, gold has remained virtually unchanged, and the S&P 500 has fallen by about 2%.

🔥 HAYES: Bitcoin has outperformed traditional assets since the US–Iran war began on Feb. 28.$BTC is up ~7% over the period, while gold is down ~2% and the Nasdaq-100 is slightly negative. pic.twitter.com/DR45IP6sIN

— Cointelegraph (@Cointelegraph) March 12, 2026

Bear market

Bitcoin’s performance is a welcome development for the crypto sector, which is exiting a difficult period. The price fell to a low of $63,000 about a month ago, a 50% drop from its all-time high reached in October 2025. The end of the bear market appears to be near.

The fact that you can trade crypto 24/7 during a war like this is a particular advantage. When the conflict with Iran escalated the past weekend, crypto markets were the only open space for global risk trading. This is a structural advantage that traditional markets still cannot match (oil does not trade during the weekend).

Technically, Bitcoin needs to break through its recently achieved resistance area of $72,000-$73,000 to complete another leg-up, but it does indeed appear that, after a week and a half of geopolitical crisis, we may have reached the end of the bear market