Bitcoin bulls are blinking. 2026 forecasts look soft.
Subscribe to enjoy similar stories. Bitcoin is mired in a slump. That weakness is showing up in tepid 2026 price forecasts.
Market sentiment about crypto has changed quickly. On Friday, Bitcoin traded at $88,476, up about 3.5%. But the token has been under pressure for weeks.
After hitting an all-time high of more than $126,000 in October, it’s lost roughly 30% of its value. Year to date, it’s down about 9%, according to Dow Jones Markets Data. Wall Street firms, even ones known for bullish attitudes, are cautious about 2026.
On Thursday, Citi Research issued a 12-month price target for Bitcoin of $143,000. While that sounds pretty bullish, it’s worth noting Citi also outlined a bear case, based on a weak economy and sluggish user adoption, of just $78,000. It’s also worth noting that, as recently as October, Citi’s 12-month Bitcoin forecast was $181,000.
So while its recent prediction represents significant upside from today’s price, it’s a retreat from just a few months ago. London-based Standard Chartered has taken a similar approach, halving its 2026 Bitcoin forecast to $150,000 from $300,000 last week. Even famously bullish tech maven Cathie Wood has struck a more cautious tone recently.
Her investment firm ARK Invest recently purchased shares in a number of crypto-adjacent firms, including Coinbase, BitMine Immersion Technologies and Circle Internet Group. All the same, in a November CNBC interview she dialed back her 2030 Bitcoin forecast from the extraordinarily bullish $1.5 million to a merely very, very bullish $1.2 million, citing growing competition from stablecoins, another type of crypto asset. Should all this waffling have investors worried? In a word, yes.
Read on livemint.com