Gold and Silver Lost $700B as Iran Threatens Bab el-Mandeb. Will Bitcoin Follow?

Gold and silver lost roughly $700 billion in market value in a single day. Bitcoin (BTC) barely moved, holding near $64,000 and claiming a rare safe-haven win over precious metals.

Gold broke below $4,000. Silver sank below $55.50, its lowest level in about 7 months. A stronger dollar and rising bets on Federal Reserve rate hikes are squeezing both metals.

Bitcoin, Silver, and Gold Price Performances in July. Source: TradingView

Gold and Silver Selloff Deepens Despite Iran Threat

Iran threatened to shut the Bab el-Mandeb Strait, a key global shipping route. That kind of news usually sends investors rushing into gold. This time, they sold instead, with US stocks also bearing the brunt.

🇺🇸 Over $400 BILLION has been wiped out from US stock market till now after Iran threatened to close the Bab el-Mandeb Strait. pic.twitter.com/Yy7hUoJsd9

— Bull Theory (@BullTheoryio) July 16, 2026

Gold fell 1.7% on Thursday, erasing about $485 billion. Silver dropped 3%, wiping out another $100 billion. By late trading, combined losses neared $700 billion.

“Gold and silver just lost around $700B in market value in a single day. A brutal reminder that even traditional safe-haven assets can get hit hard when liquidity disappears,” commented Garrett, a KOL and Binance affiliate.

The rout deepens a slide that began in late January, when gold set a record near $5,600, and silver peaked above $121. Gold has since lost roughly 28% of its value.

So where did the money go? Into dollars and short-term US Treasuries. Both now pay solid yields, while gold and silver pay nothing.

Dollar Index (DXY) and 10-Year US Treasury Yield. Source: TradingView

The Federal Reserve, under new Chair Kevin Warsh, held rates at 3.50% to 3.75% in June. Minutes then exposed a divided Fed rate outlook, with some officials leaning toward hikes.

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ETF Outflows Accelerate the Metals Rotation

Big money is leaving gold funds fast. SPDR Gold Shares (GLD) has bled $14.4 billion since March 1. That is 50% more than the $9.6 billion pulled from all spot Bitcoin ETFs since October.

BREAKING: The largest US gold-backed ETF, $GLD, has recorded -$14.4 billion in outflows since March 1st.This is 50% more than the -$9.6 billion in outflows seen across all Bitcoin ETFs since the October peak.In March alone, investors withdrew -$8.5 billion from $GLD, the… pic.twitter.com/0Wvwlqxpxi

— The Kobeissi Letter (@KobeissiLetter) July 16, 2026

The trend echoes March, when Wall Street pulled billions from gold and GLD lost a record $8.5 billion in one month. However, the exit is slowing. July outflows sit at just $46 million so far.

One corporate holder shows the damage in real time. Antalpha, a Nasdaq-listed lender tied to Bitcoin mining giant Bitmain, keeps its gold in Tether Gold (XAUt), a token backed by physical bars in Swiss vaults.

That makes its retreat visible on-chain. The firm has handed back over $50 million in gold profits, Arkham data shows, and its XAUt stack has shrunk to $138.8 million from a $329.9 million January peak.

Gold has broken below $4,000 per ounce.Antalpha has now given back over $50M of their PnL on Gold since buying it one year ago.They currently hold $138.77M of Gold – at their peak in January this year they held $329.86M. They have since sold off an estimated $142.28M of their… pic.twitter.com/zM2TPLycra

— Arkham (@arkham) July 16, 2026

Bitcoin Safe Haven Test Is Not Over

Bitcoin traded near $64,650 on Thursday, up about 4% this week. The Bitcoin price consolidation comes after BTC hit its most oversold level against gold on record.

Bitcoin Price Performance. Source: BeInCrypto

Still, BTC is no pure haven. It fell alongside metals during the US-Iran war hedge test earlier this year, when US stocks beat every traditional refuge.

Daniela Hathorn, senior market analyst at Capital.com, says cooler inflation data helped steady Bitcoin. Still, she warns it trades like a macro asset, moved by rates and ETF flows. In a note shared with BeInCrypto, she named the levels to watch.

“Bitcoin has stabilised after the volatility seen earlier this month, with prices consolidating around the $64,000–65,000 area. … From a technical perspective, the $63,000–64,000 region has emerged as an important support zone, while the $65,500–66,000 area is acting as the first meaningful resistance.”

The next test is simple. Can Bitcoin hold $63,000 while gold and silver hunt for a floor? With GLD outflows drying up, the metals washout may be close to running out of sellers.