The bitcoin price on Monday slipped below the $10,000 level as benchmark China data eased concerns about gloomy monetary outlook.

The spot bitcoin rate was down 3.2 percent at $9,857.27 as of 02:15 UTC. The losses came as a part of a more significant downside action that began soon after the US President Donald Trump criticized bitcoin on Thursday. The rate since had dropped by as much as 25.34 percent on San Francisco-based Coinbase exchange.

In comparison, Gold – bitcoin’s rival asset – fared better. The precious metal’s spot rate on Monday dropped by 0.2 percent to $1,413.20 per ounce. The asset remained firm towards its interim bullish as it held above a critical pivot of $1,400 per ounce. It also received competition from a slightly stronger US dollar index that crawled higher against a basket of rival fiat currencies on Monday.

Healthy China Data

Bitcoin’s exponential and gold’s meager fall followed the release of China’s economic data. It showed a 6.3 percent growth in the industrial output against a 5.2 percent forecast. Moreover, Chinese investment into fixed-assets rose by 5.8 percent, surpassing analysts’ estimate of 5.5 percent growth.

The data sent Chinese shares and Yuan higher on Monday. Following the midday break, the Shanghai Composite Index was 2,952.85 points, up 0.76 percent since the open. The CSI300 index also surged by 0.87 percent.

Meanwhile, the Chinese Yuan surged against the US dollar to trade at 6.8721 by 07:00 UTC.

The market believed both gold and bitcoin would surge against a string of supportive economic events, including an ongoing trade struggle between the US and China. A better-than-expected report from China allowed investors to do an intraday profit-taking but, according to Lukman Otunuga of FXT, at least gold is expecting to bounce back. The research analyst said:

“Gold is waiting for a fresh directional catalyst. Today is a slow start for gold, but that doesn’t mean it’s going to be a slow week.”

Bitcoin Still Strong

Bitcoin, on the other hand, is faring better than gold in terms of year-to-date performance. The world’s leading cryptocurrency is currently up by more than 160 percent since January 1, which means its recent downside action could be a broader bearish correction adjusting an overbought bias.

That is at least what Scott Melker of TexasWest Capital believes. The cryptocurrency trader said on Monday:

“BTC is above 10k and everyone here is acting like it’s worth 10 dollars and a half-eaten happy meal. A few weeks ago 10k was a dream. We are over 3x from the bottom. Have some perspective.”

$BTC Perspective Edition This is the $BTC weekly chart. We have been in a parabolic uptrend. Price went up a few hundred percent. That is represented in the blue box. The red box is the part of the chart that is sending everyone into a panic. Does this look so bad to you? pic.twitter.com/d45sGJET4i — The Wolf Of All Streets (@scottmelker) July 15, 2019

As of 11:42 UTC, the bitcoin price was trading 5.02 percent higher at $10,350 on Coinbase exchange.