Bitcoin came as close as it ever has at topping $100,000 last Friday before falling back to five figures, leaving crypto investors feeling frustrated.
“There is a decent chance we have a few weeks of chopsolidation ahead of us,” wrote James Check in his newsletter Checkonchain on Monday. Chopsolidation refers to a period where the market chops wood and trades sideways after a powerful bull-market advance.
But that doesn’t mean the rally, which was sparked by Donald Trump’s solid victory in the US presidential election earlier this month, will stall, he said.
Bitcoin rocketed 34% to $99,600 from $74,600 in a mere 16 days. Such a sudden, short-term jump often heralds a period of correction to work off the excitement, said Check.
The cryptocurrency dipped 10% to $90,700 but has since recovered. It now changes hands in the $97,000 range, with the US heading into the Thanksgiving holiday on Thursday.
Alex Thorn, head of Firmwide Research, echoed that sentiment.
“There will be corrections and hiccups,” he wrote in a note to clients on Tuesday.
“Once some leverage is flushed and short term buyers are done taking profits,” Bitcoin should be ready for its next move up, he said.
Sell pressure
Those high $90,000s make for a Bitcoin investor profit-taking zone.
Check called that price range “a very obvious supply zone,” which is now coming back to the market.
There’s a fairly significant volume of coins on the move, with short-term sellers accounting for 44% of the sell-side pressure, Check wrote. Meanwhile, long-term holders — those that haven’t moved coins in 155 days or longer — are proceeding with caution.
Thorn agreed with that assessment in his note to clients, although he attributed the selling to more recent long-term holders taking profits. Investors who have held for significantly longer periods than 155 days are still holding, he said.
“Truly long-term holders are not stepping in here to take profits,” Thorn said.
Bullish outlook
To be sure, nearly all analysts predict that elusive $100,000 Bitcoin is not a matter of if but when.
Thorn, for instance, sees an attempt to overtake the $100,000 threshold “in the near term.”
Bernstein analysts said MicroStrategy predicts the asset will reach $200,000 by the end of next year and $1 million by 2033.
Pantera Capital’s Dan Morehead puts Bitcoin’s price at $740,000 in April 2028, with the caveat that the Trump administration provides regulatory clarity.
Select altcoins, meanwhile, are awaiting their time in the sun. Many analysts do have Ethereum recoiling before taking a shot at $10,000, however. It is currently trading at $3,580 with a 9% jump on the day.
Pedro Solimano is a Markets Correspondent at DL News. Got a tip? Email him at psolimano@dlnews.com.
