[In the first three months of this year, the nine newly launched Bitcoin ETFs attracted about $27 billion in inflows. At the same time, gold ETFs suffered capital outflows, and individual investors missed the opportunity for gold to rise. ]

Even as gold prices hit new highs this year and outperformed Bitcoin over the past month, individual investors appear to favor Bitcoin. Nine newly launched Bitcoin ETFs attracted about $27 billion in inflows in the first three months of the year, according to Morningstar, while precious metals funds saw outflows.

Gold prices are currently hovering around $2,400 an ounce, up more than 10% since mid-March. In contrast, Bitcoin has fallen about 8% over the past month, though its gains so far this year have been much greater than gold’s.

Morningstar senior analyst Adam Sabban said that while gold continues to rise, the trend has continued so far in April. Sabban pointed out that as of April 15, Bitcoin ETFs received $770 million in inflows in April, while the two major gold ETFs - SPDR Gold Shares and iShares Gold Trust - suffered a total of about $370 million in outflows.

Saban also mentioned that gold mutual funds also saw outflows in the first quarter of this year. "Gold's rally does not seem to be attracting buying from individual investors." Similarly, several well-known gold mining stocks have also been underperforming the market this year despite gold's continued rally.

Recent data from the World Gold Council shows that China, Turkey and India have been buying gold in large quantities. Richard Mills, editor of the commodities newsletter Ahead of the Herd, explains that gold demand is driven by "momentum buying" by institutional investors, strong buying by central banks, especially developing countries that are hoarding gold to prevent their foreign exchange reserves from being frozen.

Rich Nuzum, executive director and chief investment strategist at Mercer, said he prefers gold to Bitcoin because Bitcoin has no intrinsic value. Nuzum pointed out that gold is a tangible asset, while Bitcoin is not, and gold is still a good tool to hedge against inflation and geopolitical risks.

For individual investors who are interested in the "gold rush", is it too late to try to profit now? The answer is not necessarily. Investors should make decisions based on their own risk appetite and investment goals. $BTC