Bitcoin Will Still Hit $150,000 By Year-End Despite ETF Hype Dying Down — Standard Chartered

British multinational bank Standard Chartered remains firm on its lofty Bitcoin price prediction. Regardless of a mix of negative headwinds recently, the price of the alpha cryptocurrency will still reach $150,000 per coin in 2024.

Initial Euphoria For Spot BTC ETFs Dampens

A Tuesday research report from Standard Chartered asserted that Bitcoin still has plenty of gas left in the tank despite the political tensions in the Middle East, higher Treasury yields, and a decline of fresh capital entering spot Bitcoin exchange-traded funds (ETFs).

BTC set new all-time highs of $73,737 last month but has since nosedived after the fourth block subsidy halving. According to CoinGecko data, Bitcoin is now priced at $64,146. But Standard Chartered’s analyst Geoffrey Kendrick suggested that the largest and oldest cryptocurrency would continue its ascent.

“ETF flows have likely stalled for a number of macro reasons, including higher Treasury yields and a more challenging backdrop for risk assets due to geopolitical developments in the Middle East,” Geoffrey postulated.

Moreover, the consumer banking giant said in the report that the first wave of ETF buying may be mostly over, which implies that a strong positive driver of the market has slowed for now. The next wave of buying will entail the inclusion of these exchange-traded funds in broader macro funds, but this could take quite some time.

Standard Chartered Still Expects Six-Figure BTC Price

The leading UK-headquartered bank claimed that the bad news is already priced in for Bitcoin and ether (ETH) and they expect bullish “structural drivers” to act as catalysts. 

Kendrick continued: “We reiterate our end-2024 target levels of $150,000 for Bitcoin and $8,000 for Ethereum.” 

Standard Chartered first forecasted in March that Bitcoin would reach the $150,000 mark this year and proclaimed that the price of ether — the industry’s second most valuable crypto — Ethereum would soar, too.

The bank’s analysts continue to maintain their BTC price target of $200,000 until the end of 2025.