Bitcoin (BTC) Price Prediction: Will the Crypto Market Continue to Outperform Equities?

After a bruising start to the year, crypto stocks staged a dramatic comeback in April, defying broader market jitters and riding the renewed momentum of Bitcoin's (BTC's) rally.

With U.S. equity markets showing little movement and traditional safe havens like gold demonstrating only modest gains, the digital asset space reasserted its volatility-fueled dominance.

This also signals a potential shift in investor sentiment amid fiscal and geopolitical uncertainty.

Crypto Stocks Rebound in April

Crypto stocks staged a strong comeback in April, with Bitcoin's 15% monthly gain providing a tailwind even as broader U.S. equity markets lost ground.

Strategy (MSTR) led the charge with a 31% jump, followed by Coinbase (COIN), which rose 17%, and MARA, which added 16%. All three outpaced the S&P 500, which slipped 0.8% for the month.

Galaxy Digital (GLXY) saw one of the biggest moves, soaring 33% as investors cheered its planned Nasdaq listing and deepening partnership with AI cloud provider CoreWeave.

"Galaxy is very intriguing just given its multitude of businesses," said Cantor Fitzgerald analyst Brett Knoblauch.

Not every crypto stock shared in the gains. Hut 8 rose 5%, Block was up 5.3%, and Riot Platforms slid 2.2%.

Bitcoin Outpaces Gold and Tech Stocks in April Rebound

Bitcoin outperformed gold and tech stocks in April, helping drive crypto-related equities higher and reigniting debate over the asset's role as a haven during periods of market stress.

BTC rose about 15% last month, outpacing gold, which gained 6.1%, and the Nasdaq, which dipped 0.2%. The gains came in the wake of President Trump's April 2 tariff announcement, dubbed "Liberation Day," which shook financial markets and raised fresh concerns over U.S. fiscal policy.

Bitcoin initially dropped alongside other risk assets, but quickly reversed course as long-term Treasury yields climbed and investors looked for alternatives to U.S. dollar-denominated assets.

Demand flowed into the Swiss franc, the euro, gold—and increasingly, Bitcoin.

While analysts caution that the asset's short-term divergence from equities doesn't prove a full decoupling, they point to Bitcoin's relatively muted beta during the recent market stress as a sign it's being viewed more like a long-term store of value.

Bitcoin's 30-day correlation with equities remains around 0.6.

Investor interest surged in April, with $2.9 billion in inflows into U.S.-listed Bitcoin spot ETFs, reversing outflows of $811 million in March and $3.6 billion in February.

Mixed Year-to-Date Performance

Despite a strong rebound in April, many crypto stocks remain deep in the red for the year, dragged down by a rocky first quarter marked by falling token prices and rising operational costs.

Coinbase shares are down 18% year-to-date, MARA has lost 20%, and Hut 8 has dropped 40%. Riot Platforms is also still down, sliding 29% since the start of the year.

The lone bright spot has been Strategy, up 31% year-to-date, thanks to a sharp April rally and growing interest in its Bitcoin-tied stock thesis.

A recent CoinGecko report showed that early optimism in 2025 has led to a sharp contraction in trading activity and overall market capitalization.

The total crypto market cap fell by 19% in Q1, from a January high of $3.8 trillion to $2.8 trillion by the end of March, shortly after President Trump's inauguration.

Average daily trading volume dropped by 27% to $146 billion, while total volume on centralized exchanges (CEXs) fell 16% to $5.4 trillion during the quarter.

Binance retained its dominance with a 40.7% market share, although its monthly volume slid from over $1 trillion in December to $588.7 billion in March.