Crypto Ranks Last in 2025 as Metals and Equities Surge: The Unexpected Underdog Story
2025 delivered a plot twist no one saw coming. While traditional assets soared, digital gold got left in the dust.
The Great Rotation
Forget diversification—this year was about concentration. Capital flooded into metals and equities, chasing the tangible and the tried-and-true. The narrative flipped from disruptive future to proven present. Crypto, the perennial high-beta play, found itself sidelined in a risk-off shuffle that felt more like a strategic retreat.
Regulation's Chill
The regulatory overhang finally cast its long shadow. While frameworks solidified, the uncertainty tax proved too high for institutional momentum. The 'wait-and-see' stance became the dominant strategy, starving the market of its lifeblood: fresh, confident capital. A classic case of analysis paralysis gripping the very desks that promised adoption.
Narrative Fatigue
Every bull run needs a story. This cycle, the old scripts—inflation hedge, digital sovereignty, Web3 revolution—lost their potency. Without a new, compelling macro driver, crypto struggled to compete for mindshare against the siren song of record stock buybacks and a booming commodities supercycle. The tech just wasn't shiny enough this time.
Looking Beyond the Rankings
Finishing last in a short-term race stings, but it doesn't erase the track. Blockchain infrastructure builds continue. Developer activity persists in the bearish quiet. This isn't an obituary; it's a brutal stress test. Sometimes the market needs to separate the signal from the noise—even if the process feels like watching paint dry on a Lamborghini you can't afford. The true test isn't ranking, but resilience. The next narrative is being coded right now, far from the ticker tape and the gloomy headlines.
Crypto Comes Last: What Happened?
In a recent update by Bull Trade on X, the cryptocurrency domain has ranked last, with silver, gold, and equities taking the top market spot. Moreover, copper, Nasdaq, and S&P took the next spot, with BTC, ETH, and altcoins taking the last three spots.
2025 Performance:
Silver: 130%
Gold: 65%
Copper: 35%
Nasdaq: 20%
S&P 500: 16%
Russell 2000: 13%
BTC: -6%
ETH: -12%
Altcoins: -42%
The crypto market is now officially the worst-performing asset in 2025. pic.twitter.com/80X7uIAt7C
The cryptocurrency market has heavily underperformed in 2025, with Bitcoin and ethereum experiencing heavy capital outflows. Reasons such as intense diversification towards metal and equities had led the crypto market to stay behind the radar, with 2025 crowning metals as the ultimate breakout asset of the year.
Will 2026 Be Any Different for Crypto?
As per Fundstrat’s Tom Lee, crypto is on the cards to become the next big thing in 2026, banking on the bullish exclusively. In his recent interview with CNBC, Lee shared how the new tokenization wave may help crypto to lead the market radar with a new “policy shock slamming the S&P 500 by nearly 20%.
Tom Lee just dropped a huge warning and a surprising crypto call:
• 2026 “policy shock” could slam the S&P 500 by 20%
• On Oct 10, 1/3 of crypto market makers went bankrupt and 2M accounts were wiped
• “We’re NEAR the crypto bottom, but AI, not crypto, leads next cycle”
•… pic.twitter.com/FRy2qYth94
