On April 20, for the first time in US history, the value of an oil barrel dropped below $0. The sudden drop in oil prices comes at a time when the world simply does not need the extra oil to produce petrol or diesel, as most transport - and several industries - has been shut down. A deal between Saudi Arabia and Russia, which occurred just this month, seemed to have given the oil industry some relief but it appears that things have gone even further south, with no respite around the corner.

The excess supply haunts the world’s economies as major players are considering reducing supply - which was originally agreed to be May 1 as a part of the Russia-Saudi Arabia deal. 

As a result of recent transpiring, big losses are projected all around and ETF investors are likely to see some particularly hard losses.

Meantime, Bitcoin is showing signs of health, even if it has also taken a beating in 2020. The asset briefly crossed the $7,000 mark. There has been much discussion about the correlation between Bitcoin and other asset classes, which until now has largely been in favor of the idea that a low correlation exists - which is what makes it still a strong asset to hold these days. 

The cryptocurrency market has suffered in tune with other markets, possibly because of investors pulling some funds out of the market to support themselves. Bitcoin did drop in value as oil plummeted, but it was nothing atypical of the market. Certainly there has been no cascading effect as seen in other asset classes.

However, the recent economic crises have set off multiple debates about the value of Bitcoin as a store of value and means of exchange, with many suggesting that Bitcoin’s deflationary nature and the quantitative easing policies of governments to fend off the worst of the economic damage will result in Bitcoin being seen as an important asset to hold - for diversification, at the very least.