I'm surprised how many people chose gold on a btc forum. Gold seems like a pretty crappy "investment", more like a hedge against collapse. Is it going to appreciate by 10% a year? I'd chose stocks and bitcoin.
Gold historically has been exactly that, a hedge against disaster or a failsafe to preserve wealth in uncertain economic conditions. The volatility exhibited by Bitcoin is great when it's on an overall upward trend has it has been for months, but everyone forgets how terrible it was owning Bitcoin at $200 for a year after it was trading at $800 and people were wondering if it would ever see those highs again.
Volatility is not for long-term holders
They can't use it effectively (per definition, since they are long-term holders), and thus they have to essentially ignore it (whether it favors or hurts them). But if we talk about day traders, they care not so much about price going up (or down, for that matter) as volatility itself. In other words, they will earn money on Bitcoin going down as easily as they earn money on Bitcoin going up. My point is that volatility can be great just on its own without further specifying whether it is in an overall upward trend or otherwise