Gold futures are slipping to kick off the trading week, despite the broader financial markets falling. The yellow metal has endured multiple stop-and-start rallies that have failed to materialize significant gains. When it looked like gold could permanently top $1,800 an ounce, prices failed to increase.

December gold futures fell $2.90, or 0.16%, to $1,765.40 per ounce at 13:12 GMT on Monday on the COMEX division of the New York Mercantile Exchange. Gold prices are coming off a weekly gain of about 0.7%, but they are still down more than 7% year-to-date.

Silver, the sister commodity to gold, is also paring its notable gains from last week. November silver futures tumbled $0.124, or 0.53%, to $23.225 an ounce. The white metal surged about 3% last week, reducing its 2021 loss to below 13%.

The precious metal is retreating on a strengthening greenback. The US Dollar Index (DXY), which gauges the buck against a basket of currencies, edged up 0.08% to 94.02, from an opening of 93.94. The index slid 0.3% last week, but it is still up 4.5%. A stronger buck is bad for commodities priced in dollars because it makes it more expensive for foreign investors to purchase.

US Treasurys are also hurting the metals market to start the trading week, with the benchmark 10-year yield up 0.038% to 1.614%. The one-year bill jumped 0.003% to 0.104%, while the 30-year bond dipped 0.003% to 2.048%. Rising bond yields are bad for non-yielding bullion since it raises the opportunity cost of investing in metals.

This comes after the Bank of England (BoE) signaled that it could begin to raise interest rates in the coming months amid mounting inflation risks.

But could gold turn positive later in the session as the leading US benchmark indexes fall?

With Bitcoin making headlines, investors could pour into the cryptocurrency’s new ProShares futures ETF as a hedge.

“Bitcoin is approaching its April record high again. In recent months, gold and Bitcoin have often been seen as competitors,” Commerzbank analyst Daniel Briesemann said in a note. “The other precious metals are likewise weaker as the new week gets underway. They seem to be more under the influence of gold at present.”

For now, market analysts think the next support level for gold prices could be around $1,757.

In other metal commodities, November copper futures fell $0.015, or 0.32%, to $4.7145 per pound. November platinum futures declined $17.60, or 1.58%, to $1,042.20 an ounce. November palladium futures plunged $92.10, or 4.44%, to $1,984.50 per ounce.