Bitcoin is lagging its usual October pace, but at least some analysts say its stability near the $111,000 mark signals strength, not weakness.
The price action today will be familiar to frustrated bitcoin bulls, with gold and silver once again rising to new record highs and US stocks in the green. However, Bitcoin remained under pressure, falling 1.2% over the past 24 hours to $111,500. Losses were somewhat larger in the rest of the crypto sector, with ether and XRP down 3%, and solana and dogecoin down around 2%.
Patience say analysts
Speaking at the Digital Asset Summit in London on Wednesday, Quinn Thompson, chief investment officer at Lekker Capital, said bitcoin’s time is coming.
“I assume we will catch up to the gold,” he told the attendees. “It will start very soon and the move that is coming in bitcoin and crypto will broadly look like a movement of November 2024 and October 2023.”
Matt Mena, a crypto research analyst at 21Shares, expressed a similar view, saying that bitcoin’s durability through global uncertainty “underscores how structural demand — anchored by ETF inflows and a more dovish political outlook — continues to provide a floor.” With leverage washed out and monetary easing looming, Mena projects bitcoin could rise to $150,000 by the end of the year.
Much depends on the Federal Reserve and expectations that the US central bank will continue to ease monetary policy. In its Beige Book released Wednesday, a summary of economic conditions across the Fed’s 12 regional banks, the central bank reported signs of growing weakness in the labor market, suggesting the market’s expectation of rate cuts at both of its remaining policy meetings this year remains on track.
Fed Chairman Jerome Powell avoided specifics on interest rates during remarks on Tuesday, but also acknowledged “softness” in the labor market, reinforcing the market’s belief that further policy easing is on the table.
