# Fidelity says “there is almost no relationship between the returns of Bitcoin and other assets”

In recent years, a battle of the minds has surfaced on whether or not Bitcoin’s price is correlated with other financial assets, such as stocks. A recent report from Fidelity Digital Assets brings clarity to the argument.

Fidelity’s lengthy report, titled Bitcoin Investment Thesis: Bitcoin’s Role As An Alternative Investment, shows not only a lack of correlation between Bitcoin’s price and mainstream financial assets, but higher returns for BTC investors over a long-term time horizon.

The report said:

“Bitcoin’s correlation to other assets from January 2015 to September 2020 (displayed in the table below) is an average of 0.11, indicating there is almost no relationship between the returns of bitcoin and other assets.”

A 0.11 correlation exists on a scale between -1 and 1, with a score of 1 meaning flawless correlation, and -1 yielding opposite price action, the report clarified. If Bitcoin had a -1 score, for example, then the asset would rise in price whenever stocks fall. A 0 score would mean no other asset movements would affect Bitcoin’s price.

In recent years, Bitcoin has seemingly traveled a price path in line with mainstream markets at times. BTC dumped alongside stocks in March 2020 during initial COVID news. The digital asset, however, recovered much faster, with higher relative gains. More recently, Bitcoin suffered a slight drop in line with stocks on the news of delayed stimulus funding.

But despite these short-term effects, Fidelity reported that “Bitcoin has distinct underlying fundamentals that are not affected by the health and economic situation created by COVID-19.”

In the report, Fidelity noted that the uncorrelated nature of Bitcoin could be partially due to a new era of retail interest in investing, driven by social media interest.

The report further discussed the fact that Bitcoin has a number of narratives that are of interest to different investing constituencies, arguing that despite the argument over whether Bitcoin is a store of value or a means of exchange, “One of the beautiful things about Bitcoin is that its success is not predicated on serving a singular purpose.”