Why Market Volatility Looks Different Across Asset Classes

Recent market activity showed stark differences in how asset classes have moved.

Bitcoin briefly fell below $70,000, marking its lowest level since late 2025, and extended losses amid broader sell-offs across digital assets, including Ethereum and XRP, with declines of 20-30% from recent peaks (Financial Times).

Gold also experienced significant swings. During early February 2026 sell-offs, gold prices dropped to around $4,465-$4,700 per ounce before a partial rebound, following sharp moves amid periods of elevated safe-haven demand (The Guardian).

These moves remind us of an important point:

Market volatility is not uniform.

Crypto assets like Bitcoin tend to experience large short-term swings driven by sentiment and liquidity dynamics, making them behave very differently from more established financial markets.

Precious metals such as gold can also correct sharply due to macro shifts and risk-off positioning, but their pricing is influenced by non-exchange factors, including physical demand, storage, and regional premiums — not just exchange quotes.

Why FinImpulse Focuses on Equities, ETFs, and Funds

We intentionally do not provide crypto or gold price feeds:

• Crypto markets are highly speculative, with extreme volatility and inconsistent long-term signals.
• Gold pricing varies by region, dealer spreads, lot size, and often reflects physical supply conditions not captured by a single global price.

These markets follow dynamics different from those of traditional financial instruments, making them less suitable for structured, long-term comparison frameworks. They differ structurally from equities, ETFs, and funds, which is why we focus our data offering on the latter.

Equities, ETFs, and Funds Behave Differently

Compared to crypto and metals, markets for stocks, ETFs, and funds show characteristics that make them more amenable to structured analysis:

• Smoother price behavior over longer periods
• Less extreme short-term swings
• Clearer cycles of growth and correction

Why is that?

• Equity and fund markets are formalized with disclosure requirements and operate on regulated exchanges with deep liquidity.
• ETFs are baskets of assets that provide built-in diversification, reducing idiosyncratic risk.

These structural features lend themselves to comparative analysis and multi-cycle evaluation, which often underpins product decision-making and portfolio construction.

Data You Can Analyze — Across Decades

With FinImpulse, you have access to:

• ~20–35+ years of historical data (varies by exchange and asset)
• Normalized prices across markets and currencies
• Consistent structure for comparative analysis

This allows you to compare the performance of stocks and ETFs, benchmark assets against indices, and analyze long-term behavior instead of focusing on daily fluctuations.

You can do this through:

• The dashboard — an intuitive interface for exploration
• The API — plug the data into your own workflows (no-code or coded integrations)