Gold at 5k Reveals Altcoins’ Brutal Lag

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In the quiet drawing rooms where markets convene and fortunes are whispered like gossip at a manor, gold holds its place with the serenity of an elderly landowner, while the newer coins flicker and fret as if at a dance they cannot quite master. Gold at five thousand dollars an ounce stands as a stern mirror, showing how far the less substantial altcoins have fallen behind, even as gold‑backed tokens with the respectable names of PAXG and XAUT insinuate themselves into the ledger with a patient charm. The scene is less a rally and more a domestic drama, with bullion as the stern patriarch and the digital hopefuls as restless sons of a curious age.

  • Analysts note a weekly RSI near 25 for altcoins versus gold, a level that calls to mind the kind of stress one associates with a sudden, unwelcome spring in a country estate.
  • Gold‑backed RWA tokens PAXG and XAUT tug along roughly with spot near $5k, yet they remain a modest corner of the vast bullion table despite accelerating inflows.
  • Tokenized gold and silver markets broaden, driven by volatile derivatives as investors seek on‑chain access to hard assets, like guests who arrive with great enthusiasm but carry uncertain weather in their pockets.

Michaël van de Poppe casts a wary star over the scene. “The current valuation of altcoins against gold is the lowest it has ever been… The RSI has turned to 25 on the weekly timeframe. This has never happened,” he writes, suggesting that the lone analogue is a distant, unwelcome memory of the COVID crash. With spot gold near that ceremonial five thousand, the ratio now serves as a stern scoreboard, reminding us how far the more delicate crypto ventures have lagged the dependable metal.

The current valuation of #Altcoins against Gold is the lowest it has ever been.

The RSI has turned to 25 on the weekly timeframe.

This has never happened.

The chart itself also provided the lowest valuation since 2021 and it swept the low.

The only occurrence that we’ve seen…

– Michaël van de Poppe (@CryptoMichNL) February 10, 2026

Snapshot: Metal‑Linked RWA Tokens

In this theatre, real‑world asset tokens backed by gold sit at the center of the scene’s tension. PAX Gold (PAXG), which claims title to allocated London Good Delivery bars, trades near $5,035.43, down 0.09% over the last 24 hours, with a $425.2M daily volume and an intraday range of $4,985.75-$5,088.73.

Leading the parade are Ondo (ONDO), up about 0.3% in the last day, PAX Gold (PAXG), higher by roughly 0.6%, Maker (MKR) gaining around 2-3% in 24 hours, and Chainlink (LINK), trading just below the day’s trend, a sign that some analysts suspect these tokens might buck the broader crypto melancholy.

Tether Gold (XAUT) moves around $5,013.23, essentially flat on the day after a 7.4% gain in a week and an 11.41% rise in a month. Both instruments track bullion closely, yet they remain a modest slice compared with the wider crypto cosmos, underscoring how little fortune has migrated into tokenized metals despite gold’s dramatic ascent. Live market stats for PAXG and XAUT can be found on their respective price pages.

The RWA Sector by the Numbers

Stepping back, the Relative Worthy Asset (RWA) sector grows, though not in even measure. Data from CoinMetrics and Tokeny place tokenized commodities-dominated by gold‑backed tokens like PAXG and XAUT-in roughly the $0.8-$1B range in the latest analyses, a mere rounding error beside gold’s multi‑trillion‑dollar empire.

More recent industry voices point to a brisk acceleration: the tokenized gold and silver market value has climbed to new heights into 2026 as regulatory clarity settles in and large institutions experiment with on‑chain funds and vault‑linked offerings. Yet the derivatives flow reveals the sector’s volatility; a recent week saw RWA perpetuals volume spike above $15.5B as gold futures sagged more than 10% and silver fell close to 28%, triggering liquidations across leveraged positions.

Altcoins vs Gold: Structural Cheapness, Not Just Panic

All of this helps explain the extremity of van de Poppe’s chart. Altcoins-especially those beneath the top tier of RWA plays-have faced a double onslaught: first from structural dilution (new tokens, unlocks) and then from liquidity tightening that makes “sleep‑at‑night” gold a gentler partner than speculative tails. As one observer quipped, “altcoins hitting historic lows versus gold scream opportunity if you can stomach volatility… RSI at 25 on weekly shows extreme oversold conditions, rarely this extreme.” Whether that signals the true arbitrage for believers in the blockchain dream, or merely another trap for the unwary, will hinge on the next macro liquidity turn-not on narratives alone.

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2026-02-10 13:40