Bitcoin might be hovering near all-time highs (crossing the US$101,000 mark at the time of writing), but for some market watchers, it still doesn’t pass the test — technically or temperamentally.

Appearing on Switzer Investing TV this week, Michael Gable of Fairmont Equities walked through the recent Bitcoin chart and explained why, despite the bullish setup, it’s not an asset he’d ever buy.

“I don’t follow Bitcoin,” Gable admitted, “but from what I’ve seen with these cryptos, they trade a little bit differently to stocks.”

He acknowledged the current pattern on the chart — a classic cup and handle — is typically seen as bullish. But for Gable, Bitcoin’s tendency to fake out investors before reversing course is a red flag.

“They tend to produce these false breaks,” he said. “It looks like it’s breaking higher, then it gets sold off. Or it looks like it’s breaking lower, then it rips higher. It fools people.”

That kind of unpredictability is a major issue for technical analysts who rely on clean breakouts and follow-through. And it’s not just a one-off pattern — Gable pointed to recent price action as another example of what he calls “false breaks.”

“It looks like it’s broken to the upside, but then it’s been sold off,” he explained. “So I just wonder if it’s one of those false breaks where investors thought, ‘okay, now’s the time to buy’, only for it to get dumped.”

Some investors have compared Bitcoin to gold — a hedge during times of geopolitical risk or economic instability. But Gable isn’t buying that comparison either. When asked what he’d rather hold in times of global uncertainty, his answer was simple:

“I’d rather be in gold, to be honest.”

“Gold can do really well — and not just when the economy’s struggling,” he added. “It can rally even when the market’s going up, depending on what central banks are doing or how the US dollar is moving.”

In fact, gold and equities have both moved higher in recent months, with Gable noting that the traditional narrative — that gold only rallies during market crashes — isn’t always true.

“Gold’s up, what is it — 50%? — in the past 12 months. And the market’s headed higher too. So that can happen at the same time.” Let's take a look at the two side-by-side, actually! Below is a chart that shows Bitcoin's price (illustrated in purple and relative to the US dollar) and gold's per ounce price (illustrated in red).

And while the two may be tangling around the same values right now, you can see that gold's ascent is steady, while Bitcoin's is a rollercoaster.

So while some investors are betting that Bitcoin is the new safe haven, Gable isn’t convinced. He sees Bitcoin as too erratic, too unreliable around key technical levels, and too difficult to trade with confidence.

“Assuming I was happy to buy Bitcoin — and I’m just finding an entry point — I’d want to see how it behaves around support or resistance… I don’t think I’d want to just step in at a particular level.”

For now, he’s staying out — and sticking with the gold he knows.