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Bullish Forecast: Analyst Predicts Surge To $88,000 As Bitcoin Hits Highest Level In Two Years

With Bitcoin recently surpassing the $57,000 mark, marking its highest level since 2021, a surge in bullish outlook among analysts and experts has emerged.

Bitcoin To $88,000

Among them is Ryan Rasmussen, a Senior Crypto Research Analyst at Bitwise, who recently shared his insights during an interview with Yahoo Finance. Rasmussen projected a bullish trajectory for Bitcoin, foreseeing a potential price surge to $88,000 by the close of 2024.

According to Rasmussen, Bitcoin trading at this price mark is possible, citing factors such as excitement and bullish sentiment surrounding the upcoming halving event and future traders taking bullish positions.

Rasmussen noted, disclosing Bitwise’s prediction for 2024:

We think that Bitcoin will certainly set all time highs in 2024. That previous price is right around $69,000 but we don’t think its going to stop there, we think we’ll at least see a 10% to 15% bump over the last all time highs in 2024. That will take us to the mid $80,000 range so I think our target was $88,00 by 2024, and I’m still sticking by that.

Despite Bitcoin trading below Rasmussen’s projected $88,000 mark, it maintains a bullish trend, with recent highs surpassing $57,000. Other analysts, including legendary trader Peter Brandt, share this optimism and predict a $200,000 target for the current bull market cycle.

Additionally, crypto analyst Ali has identified a “megaphone pattern” on Bitcoin’s daily chart, suggesting the potential for a substantial rally towards $60,520 if $50,000 to $53,000 price levels are maintained.

Bitcoin (BTC) price chart on TradingView.com

Ethereum’s Momentum Surges

Notably, aside from Bitcoin, Rasmussen also talked about Ethereum. So far, Ethereum’s price has outperformed that of Bitcoin.

Rasmussen attributed this surge in Ethereum’s value to speculation surrounding approving a spot Ethereum exchange-traded fund (ETF) in the US and the DenCun upgrade scheduled for March, which is expected to reduce transaction costs.

However, regardless of Ethereum’s optimism, Rasmussen cautioned that the approval of Ethereum spot ETFs might not be as straightforward as BTC spot ETFs.

He pointed out the reluctance of the US Securities and Exchange Commission’s Chair, Gensler, towards spot Bitcoin ETFs, suggesting a similar stance towards Ethereum.

Rasmussen also noted that the recent Grayscale lawsuit may not have the same positive impact on Ethereum spot ETF approval as it did for Bitcoin. Looking ahead, he estimated a 50% chance of approval or rejection for Ethereum spot ETFs in May.

The introduction of BTC spot ETFs has already significantly impacted the market, with billions flowing into spot Bitcoin ETFs. Should Ethereum spot ETF get approved, Rasmussen anticipates a similar demand for Ethereum spot ETFs, which could drive buying pressure and potentially increase prices.

Featured image from Unsplash, Chart from TradingView

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Crypto Token Unlocks To Cross $700 Million In February 2024, Here Are The Culprits

February is set to be a hot point for crypto assets, with several cryptocurrencies set to release over $800 million worth of assets during the month. According to data from TokenUnlocks, 26 crypto projects are set to carry out token unlocks in February, potentially flooding the crypto market with almost $1 billion worth of crypto assets. Most of this liquidity is set to come from Avalanche (AVAX), with approximately $345 million worth of AVAX set to hit the market in the middle of February.

February 2024 Set To See Massive Crypto Unlocks

Many major projects like Aptos (APT), The Sandbox (SAND), and Avalanche (AVAX) have unlocking events scheduled for February 2024. Avalanche, for instance, is set to unlock 9.54 million AVAX tokens, representing 2.6% of the total supply on February 22. This token unlock is set to be allocated in four batches, with 2.25 million AVAX tokens going to strategic partners, 1.67 million tokens to the foundation, 4.50 million tokens to the Avalanche team, and 1.13 million tokens as airdrops.

Aptos (APT) will unlock 7.34% of its total supply on February 11 to the tune of 24.84 million APT tokens worth $228.55 million. In the same vein, metaverse platform The Sandbox will unlock $205.59 million SAND tokens, representing 9.19% of its circulating supply, on February 14. At the time of writing, these tokens are worth $90.46 million.

Ethereum L2 blockchain Optimism is also set to unlock 24.16 million OP tokens worth $71.51 million on February 29. This represents 2.52% of its total supply.

Other notable tokens also set for unlock include SUI, Algorand (ALGO), ApeCoin (APE), MANTA, and AGIX. Once unlocked, these tokens are free to be sold on the open market

How Will These Unlocks Impact Prices And Investors?

Crypto unlocks among altcoins are not a new phenomenon in the crypto industry, and they tend to have both positive and negative impacts on the price of such crypto assets. However, once those locked tokens are unlocked, they can enter the open market. 

This means that a large supply of tokens may become available for trading simultaneously. If any of those newly unlocked tokens are sold right away, it can put downward pressure on the price as the supply overwhelms demand.

At the time of writing, the crypto market is at somewhat of a standstill in terms of price volatility, although some cryptocurrencies like Chainlink (LINK) are currently on substantial gains in the past seven days. 

Chainlink also recently witnessed an unlock of 19 million LINK tokens worth $341 million. Following this, 16 million tokens were deposited into the crypto exchange Binance immediately, suggesting a sell-off.

Crypto total market cap chart from Tradingview.com (Altcoin unlcoks)

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Goldman Sachs Exec Predict Massive Growth For Digital Assets In 2024

Head of Digital Assets at Goldman Sachs, Matthew McDermott, has projected a massive growth in the cryptocurrency market in 2024. McDermott shared these positive predictions in a recent interview with Fox Business, expressing much optimism in the future of digital assets. 

Goldman Exec Expects Spot ETFs To ‘Gradually’ Boost Institutional Demand For Crypto Assets

Speaking to Fox Business, McDermott has backed the continuous growth of cryptocurrencies as he foresees a rise in the institutional adoption of these assets. 

Notably, the Goldman executive shares popular sentiment with many crypto enthusiasts that the approval of a Bitcoin or Ethereum spot ETF will open up the digital asset ecosystem to more institutional investors who are weary of the market volatility attached to direct crypto investments. 

McDermott said:

One, it broadens and deepens the liquidity in the market. And why does it do that? It does that because you’re actually creating institutional products that can be traded by institutions that don’t need to touch the bare assets. And I think that, to me, that opens up the universe of the pensions, insurers, etc. 

However, McDermott has cautioned crypto enthusiasts against expecting a sudden impact of crypto spot ETFs. He believes the anticipated increased demand and price rise will be a gradual process that will occur over the course of 2024. 

The US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) is expected to grant approval orders to several Bitcoin spot ETF applications in the coming weeks following discussions between the regulator and multiple asset managers. Bloomberg analyst Eric Balchunas has set a potential decision window of January 8 – January 10, stating there is a 90% chance the SEC finally delivers a verdict on these various applications putting an end to the 6-months chronicle.

Asset Tokenization In 2024

In addition to potential crypto spot ETFs, McDermott also mentioned a potential increase in commercial blockchain application as another contributing factor to his projected rise in institutional demand for digital assets.

Particularly, he spoke about an improvement in existing tokenization systems, which can lead to the creation of secondary liquidity on blockchains.

He said:

When I think about tokenization, which is obviously a topic that’s kind of talked about quite extensively, I think for me next year what we’ll start to see is the development of marketplaces. So where we start to see scale adoption, particularly across the buy side in the context of investors. And that’s because we’ll start to see the emergence of secondary liquidity on chain, and that’s a key enabler. So for me, that’s one of the key developments for next year.”

At the time of writing, the entire crypto ecosystem is valued at $1.602 trillion, with a 15.09% gain in the last month. The market’s leader Bitcoin currently trades at $42,082, having declined by 1% in the past day.

Goldman Sachs

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Bitcoin Option Traders Seem Doubtful At Entering Directional Trades

Data from Bitcoin options shows that crypto traders are currently selling out and uncertain about entering directional bets on the coin’s future transactions. This is the highest occurrence of this kind of investors’ sentiments on the coin since last year May, when more than 50% of Bitcoin’s value declined.

Arcane Research’s Report On Bitcoin

Crypto market analysis company Arcane Research had recently published a report on the performance of Bitcoin. Their research highlighted that the coin experienced low volatility of over 70%, bolstering that this is the first time options traders have gone on a long-term bearish direction since last year May.

BTC stands above $44K | Source: BTCUSD on TradingView.com

Meanwhile, Bitcoin options enable traders to trade on BTC price movements; as the coin appreciates, the price of the options increases. Consequently, the analyzed low volatility shows that investors aren’t ready to bet on the direction of the leading cryptocurrency. Also, this is the first time that the coin’s options have been this cheap since May 2021.

Related Reading | Bitcoin Dominance Will Continue To Decline In Favor Of Ethereum, Altcoins, FTX US President

In addition, Arcane Research stated that the coin’s volatility skew has peaked since last May. The volatility skew evaluates the difference between market price and call price. Generally, the call option has been more costly than the pull options, creating a downward option skew.

Moreover, the recent depreciation in BTC price, the current BTC option skew, has now surmounted to its highest since the overall crypto crash in May 2021. This suggests more sellers than buyers in the coin, resulting in a bearish market.

Presently, Bitcoin option investors are the most bearish in a long while. Also, they’re hesitant about choosing a direction they feel that the BTC coin is moving in. Furthermore, the report shows that this signals traders to purchase cheap calls.

A Brief On Crypto Options

Options enable traders to place trades on an assets’ price directions. For a transaction to be completed, the traders buy the possibilities if the digital asset reaches a predicted price. Also, it’s worthy to note that volatile assets’ options have a greater demand, as they offer better possibilities for leveraging. Consequently, crypto assets with high volatility have more expensive options.

Despite Chaos, Bitcoin Price Faces a Turnaround

Regardless of traders’ lack of confidence and hesitations in betting on the directions of Bitcoin options, the coin seems to be gaining. From the 4-hour chart, Bitcoin has created an upward triangle pattern and shown a 15% increase from its previous upper boundary.

Related Reading | TA: Bitcoin Fails to Test $45K, Why Dips Could Be Attractive

For the world’s largest crypto asset to surmount its bullish milestone, it must surpass the upper boundary of the existing chart pattern, which is above $44k.

Featured image from Pixabay, chart from TradingView.com