Google Sheets, available as part of consumer Gmail and organization-wide Google Workspace, allows users to easily create trend charts based on any source connected to a Google Sheet.
There is a GOOGLEFINANCE function for the previous day’s Bitcoin close.
There isn’t currently a function for the spot price of gold — only for gold futures.
A request has been submitted to Google to use the function for spot metal prices.
Bitcoin Leapfrogs Gold
Cryptocurrencies, including Bitcoin, have been disruptive technologies that the internet has fostered.
In this case, precious metals have been the disrupted item. Even though gold coins have physical properties, the virtual has outdone the physical by a wide margin in terms of market value.
In May 2017, the dollar price of Bitcoin climbed well above the then price of gold. From there, Bitcoin continued its ascent toward over USD 70,000.
The Bitcoin price has proven to be more volatile than gold. Bitcoin has seen 20% or more price swings in a matter of days, while the price of gold changes more slowly, with the most significant daily swings on the order of 2%.
Charting Bitcoin vs Gold Performance
We used the following GOOGLEFINANCE function to create the trend line in the embedded Google Sheets chart below.
=GOOGLEFINANCE(“CURRENCY:BTCUSD”, “price”, DATE(2024,1,1), DATE(2024,12,31), “DAILY”)
Google’s disclaimer is, “Quotes are not sourced from all markets and may be delayed up to 20 minutes. Information is provided ‘as is’ and solely for informational purposes, not for trading purposes or advice.”
The real-time sources for the spot price of gold are not easily available. We are currently using the Gold Comex (futures) price per ounce, which is sometimes delayed by several days.
That GOOGLEFINANCE function looks like this, where ‘B89’ references a date in a cell.
=index(GOOGLEFINANCE(“GCW00″,”price”,B89),2,2)
Note: the chart may take up to 30 seconds to load from Google Docs. Here is a link to the Google Sheet, which includes a full-screen view of the chart.
Here is the Bitcoin to Gold Comex ratio. It shows what one Bitcoin is worth in ounces of gold.
Historically, there has been a noticeable correlation between interest in the search term “bitcoin” and the Bitcoin price chart.
As interest in a commodity grows (even a virtual commodity), so does demand. As demand rises, given a constant supply, prices rise.
Bitcoin as Digital Gold
Bitcoin has been referred to as digital gold. There has been a shift to viewing Bitcoin as a store of value rather than a medium of exchange.
Contrarians view Bitcoin as a speculative asset without the income value of assets such as shares in a corporation and real estate investments.
While Bitcoin does not have physical properties like gold, it has a limited supply. There will only ever be 21 million Bitcoin or 2.1 quadrillion Sats.
If someone purchased $100 of Bitcoin on July 17, 2010, that investment would have been worth over $75,000,000 on January 16, 2021.
The original meteoric rise, coupled with prolific press coverage, has captured the attention of many people.