This paper examines the safe haven properties of cryptocurrencies and gold for stock market indices during the COVID-19 outbreak. Using the OLS regression, we find that Bitcoin and Ethereum act as diversifiers only during the COVID-19 pandemic. Moreover, before the pandemic, Ripple, Binance Coin, Tether and Dogecoin act as diversifiers and kept this property during the breakdown except for Tether which was the only one suitable to act as a safe haven. Our findings also reveal that gold acts as a hedge before the pandemic and as a diversifier during the COVID-19 outbreak. Besides, the results indicate that the growth rate of COVID-19 confirmed cases harms the stock market. Finally, the regression results robustly support the safe haven features and uncover that Tether is possibly a better safe haven than gold.