Gold (XAU) and Copper (XCU) compared side by side. Over the past 90 days, XCU is ahead by 8.5 percentage points (XAU -4.2% against XCU +4.3%). Their daily returns move loosely together (correlation 0.54 across 279 shared trading days). Both have run at a similar volatility, around 34% annualised.
XAUXCU
0.54over 279 shared trading days
Measured on daily returns rather than on prices. Two assets that both simply trend upward score near 1.0 on raw prices whether or not they move together, so returns are what answer the question people mean by correlation.
| Metric | XAU | XCU |
|---|---|---|
| Max drawdown (400d) | -26.7% | -13.5% |
| Risk-adjusted return (90d) | -0.17 | 0.17 |
Relative strength over 90 days: XCU outperformed XAU by 8.2% — measured on the XAU/XCU ratio, so it holds regardless of market direction.