Bitcoin May Be Down — But Bernstein Analysts Still See BTC Tapping The Magical $150,000 Mark

Bitcoin (BTC) may have slipped back below its November 2021 historic high of $69,044 after touching a record level of nearly $74,000 in March, but some analysts are still bullish on the benchmark crypto.

Global investment firm Bernstein said in a Monday note that the price of Bitcoin is on track to hit $150,000 by the end of 2025, or even sooner.

Bernstein Maintains $150,000 BTC Price Call

Though the Bitcoin price has been stuck in the doldrums in recent weeks, broker Bernstein believes the top crypto is “far from done”.

In the May 6 report, analysts Gautam Chhugani and Mahika Sapra said they “feel even better” about their six-figure price forecast for BTC. They predicted last year that Bitcoin would hit $150,000 by 2025. Despite the present market conditions, they are convinced Bitcoin is on its way to the coveted $150K mark.

“We believe we are in mere first quartile of this cycle, and the market has another 15-18 months before we consider this market topping out,” the strategists noted.

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) approved nearly a dozen spot Bitcoin ETFs in mid-January following a decade of failed attempts by multiple high-profile firms. They have been largely successful — with hundreds of millions of dollars entering the funds daily.

Bitcoin set its current all-time high of $73,737 two months ago but dropped all the way to sub-$57K last week. The leading cryptocurrency is trading for $63,962 as of publication time, according to CoinGecko data.

According to Bernstein, the recent pullback to a local low of just below $57,000 effectively “cleaned up the excess leverage on futures contacts on crypto exchanges,” indicating that it is only up from here for Bitcoin.

Is The Bull Market Approaching?

Bernstein analysts also noted that spot BTC ETFs recently saw cumulative net inflows after eight straight days of outflows. Even Grayscale’s converted GBTC ETF, which has lost billions since January, reversed its downward trajectory by recording its first net inflow of $63 million over the weekend. 

GBTC saw its second inflow of $3.9 million on May 6, bringing its total inflows to $66.9 million. “This is significant considering GBTC has been a source of significant and continued selling, which the new 9 ETFs have had to absorb, they explained.

The Bernstein analysts further argued that demand for the ETF products will likely continue, thus further pushing up the price of Bitcoin.

They are not the only industry pundits who believe $150,000 is on the horizon. British multinational bank Standard Chartered predicted in April that the ETFs will continue to be popular and included in wider macro funds, which will propel Bitcoin to $150,000 by 2024 year-end.