Gold managed to capture $4,000 an ounce Monday after spending the weekend just under that key psychological price point. Brent crude surged past $90 a barrel, and Federal Reserve officials pushed for a July rate hike.
The metal posted a 2.5% weekly loss last week. Gold briefly broke below $4,000, a level it first breached in late June for the first time since November 2025.
The US carried out a ninth consecutive night of strikes against Iran. Two American personnel died in Jordan, and allies reported fresh Iranian attacks Sunday.
The fighting pushed oil prices past $90 a barrel, reviving inflation fears just as June’s data showed cooling prices.
Meanwhile, Cleveland Fed President Beth Hammack joined a growing chorus of officials that argued interest rates may need to rise again. The comments set up a contentious debate at Kevin Warsh’s next meeting, with Warsh already signaling little patience for backsliding.
He told the House Financial Services Committee the Fed has
“no tolerance for persistently elevated inflation”
COMEX speculators raised net long gold positions to 119,147 contracts in the week to July 14, CFTC data showed. That build suggests traders still expect further upside.
Gold’s pullback follows broader bear-market signals across precious metals. Silver has also seen a sharp pullback, and gold’s war-hedge performance has been uneven through the conflict.
Oil-driven war risk usually boosts gold’s safe-haven appeal. Here, the same oil spike is fueling rate-hike bets that punish non-yielding bullion instead. That dynamic could offset some safe-haven demand from the Gulf conflict.
Whether gold breaks below $4,000 again may depend on this week’s Fed comments and oil prices.
The post Gold Price Holds Above $4,000: Will Oil Surge Push It Lower? appeared first on BeInCrypto.
Reference: GitHub PancakeSwap Releases ERC-8183 AI Settlement Agent As DeFi Automation Gets More Serious PancakeSwap has released an open-source ERC-8183 AI settlement agent, giving developers
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Key takeaways:Bitcoin futures and options show whales still prefer hedging downside risks as socio-economic risks mount.Rising Treasury yields and declines in AI stocks fuel risk aversion, yet BTC’s strength signals continued decoupling.Bitcoin (BTC) showed relative strength over the past week, despite failing to break above $65,500. More importantly, the cryptocurrency has decoupled from traditional markets as investors took profits in memory-chip makers amid fears of excessive valuations in the artificial intelligence sector. Still, judging by Bitcoin’s derivative metrics, top traders are not particularly confident about a rally toward $70,000.Bitcoin perpetual futures annualized funding rate. Source: LaevitasThe Bitcoin perpetual futures annualized funding rate stood at a neutral 8% mark on Monday, flat from one week prior. Excessive demand for bullish leverage drives the indicator above the 12% level, which last occurred on July 10. It is unclear if Bitcoin traders’ lack of optimism is somewhat related to contagion fears from the sell-off in tech stocks or the war in Iran.Nasdaq-100 futures (left) vs. Bitcoin/USD (right). Source: TradingViewThe tech-heavy Nasdaq-100 Index dropped below 28,800 on Friday for the first time in five weeks, while Bitcoin displayed strength over the weekend and eventually broke above $65,000 on Monday. Strategy announced a successful raise of $263 million in cash by selling common stock during the prior week, easing concerns of potential Bitcoin sell pressure.Investors became extremely anxious about Strategy’s $1.76 billion annual dividend payout to its preferred perpetual equity shareholders, in addition to the $2.6 billion of convertible debt maturing in 2028 and 2029. By raising cash reserves to a comfortable $3.22 billion, the company hopes to eliminate the uncertainty caused by unrealized Bitcoin losses held in its balance sheet.Bitcoin 30-day options delta skew (put-call) at Deribit. Source: LaevitasThe Bitcoin 30-day options delta skew stood at 13% on Monday, meaning puts (sell) traded at a premium relative to calls (buy). Under neutral conditions, the indicator should range from -6% to +6%. Despite the modest improvement from the prior week’s 19% delta skew, whales and market makers remain reluctant to hold downside price exposure.Bitcoin’s resilience amid AI stocks weakness and increased risk aversionThe sell-off in AI-related stocks has also caused investors to act more risk-averse. The sharp declines in the shares of IBM, SanDisk, Oracle, ARM, SpaceX and Intel coincided with a rally in 5-year US Treasury yields. Traders demanded higher returns to hold government bonds, indicating they anticipate further expansionary monetary measures due to the ongoing fiscal debt issue.Gold/USD (left) vs. US 5-year Treasury yield (right): Source: TradingViewThe US 5-year Treasury yield surged to 4.33% on Monday, up from 4.22% two weeks prior. Curiously, gold prices have been in a downtrend since mid-May, suggesting that no asset class has been immune to the deteriorating global economic growth outlook and ongoing geopolitical tensions in the Middle East. On Monday, US President Trump vowed to retaliate against Iran for a missile strike that killed US soldiers in Jordan, putting risk assets on high alert. Bitcoin’s jump to $65,500 strengthens the case for further decoupling from traditional finance markets amid signs of monetary base expansion. Despite a lack of bullishness in BTC derivatives markets, a rally toward $70,000 could be ignited by weak corporate earnings, especially in the AI sector.
Crypto ETF investors spent the week changing direction almost as quickly as the market itself. A sharp Monday retreat gave way to broad inflows across
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