Gold as a falcon: gold may lose its position as the most profitable asset in 2026
Gold, which until recently was considered the undisputed favorite of investors, may temporarily give way to other assets, analysts interviewed by Izvestia believe. After strong growth last year and early January, the market faced its biggest correction in decades. The trigger, according to experts, was Donald Trump's nomination of Kevin Warsh for the post of Fed chairman. The markets perceived him as a hardliner, which sharply strengthened the dollar and hit precious metals. At the same time, other investment tools, which are often called protective, are becoming cheaper. For example, bitcoin has fallen to its lowest level since April 2025. Whether investors need to buy more assets at a drawdown and how long the decline will last is in the Izvestia article.
Why Gold and Bitcoin are getting cheaper
Gold no longer glitters and may well give way to the most profitable investment asset. By the end of 2025, precious metals were recognized as the most reliable investment tool. During the year, the price of futures on it increased by almost 65%, and in the first month of 2026 - by another 20%. However, after the peak of $5,625 per ounce on January 29-30, a correction occurred — quotes began to roll back. So, on February 2 at 17:00 it was already $4,733.
Kevin Warsh
The trigger was a reassessment of expectations for interest rates in America after the news of the planned appointment of Kevin Warsh as head of the Federal Reserve — the term of current Chairman Jerome Powell will end in May, said Dmitry Smolin, head of precious metals at Ingosstrakh Investments Management Company. Warsh is critical of the Fed's active policy, believing that the regulator should only set a medium-term course and stick to it. It is believed that he may pursue a tougher policy than his predecessor. At the end of January, the regulator lowered the interest rate in the United States for the third time by 0.25 percentage points, to 3.5–3.75%.
Against the background of the news about the candidate for the post of the new chairman of the Federal Reserve, the dollar began to strengthen sharply. Since gold is traded in this currency, its price has become too high for investors with other currencies, which has caused sales, explained Olga Gogaladze, an economist and expert on financial markets.
Silver showed a similar trend. Since the beginning of 2026, it has risen in price by more than 60% and reached $ 120, but by February 2, the price had dropped to $ 81.54. Platinum, at its peak on January 26, rose to $ 2915.7, after which it fell back to $2130. However, prices have not dropped to critical levels now. They have only returned to what they were two or three weeks ago, by the standards of commodity markets, this can be considered quite standard volatility, said Igor Rastorguev, a leading analyst at AMarkets.
In general, investors assumed that the new Fed leadership would be able to curb inflation with harsh measures, so gold, as well as other assets that were called protective, lost their appeal. For example, bitcoin dropped below $75,000 on Monday, February 2, which is the lowest since April 2025. According to Olga Gogaladze, the domino effect additionally worked: the decline of one asset forced investors to sell off others to compensate for losses. The cheapening of cryptocurrencies also occurred due to the massive liquidation of margin positions: traders who used leverage were not prepared for such a sharp market reversal.
Now bitcoin is no longer included in the list of the world's largest assets by capitalization — it has dropped to 13th place, although it was previously in the top 5. Nevertheless, gold remained in the leading positions, despite the correction. In general, the losses of the markets of raw materials, stocks, precious metals and cryptocurrencies reached $12 trillion in a few days.
What should investors invest in
Despite the cheaper price of gold, such an asset still remains generally attractive — central banks continue to buy it, and geopolitical tensions persist, said Igor Rastorguev from AMarkets.
With the decline in the value of precious metals futures, one should not panic, said economist Olga Gogaladze. If an investor bought it for $2500-3000 per ounce, then now he still remains in profit — selling at the bottom of the correction is unlikely to be a reasonable decision.
In addition, for long-term investors, levels below $4,500 can be seen as an opportunity to purchase an asset at more attractive prices. At the same time, it is important to remember about diversification: it is risky to keep all funds exclusively in protective assets, so it makes sense to redistribute part of the capital into instruments that benefit from a strong dollar, such as bonds, stocks and funds of the United States, as well as substitute bonds of the Russian Federation (bonds that were issued to replace Eurobonds that turned out to be unavailable due to sanctions), explained Olga Gogaladze.
According to experts interviewed by Izvestia, the fall in gold may last for several months. The duration of this trend will largely depend on the Fed's policy. While the dollar is strengthening and interest rate expectations remain high, part of the capital is flowing into monetary instruments, said Mikhail Gordienko, professor at the Department of Finance for Sustainable Development at Plekhanov Russian University of Economics. In the event of a slowdown in inflation and stabilization of interest rates, gold may return to growth.
— Gold is an asset where it is quite risky to make money on short—term fluctuations, since growth may not be as dynamic as before. First of all, it is a tool for long-term investments. If there is a part of the funds that can be invested in gold, then the current period looks appropriate, but such investments should be considered for at least a year, and preferably for a longer period," Mikhail Gordienko added.
Also in 2026, it is possible to shift the focus to other investment instruments, Olga Gogaladze believes. First of all, it is worth paying attention to the shares of enterprises in the technology sector of the United States and Russia: companies working in the field of artificial intelligence and robotics continue to increase profits even against the background of high volatility of the metals market, the expert believes. According to Nikolay Dudchenko, an analyst at Finam Financial Group, while the key interest rate in Russia is at a high level, it is also worth paying attention to ruble—denominated instruments - these can be either deposits or bonds of reliable issuers.
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