Despite the continued sideways price trend, two Bitcoin bulls, Brian Kelly and Tom Lee still believe that the top-ranked cryptocurrency will finish 2018 on a high note. For Kelly, an avalanche of institutional interest is incoming, while Lee maintains that BTC will reach his $25,000 price forecast.
“Institutional Herd” incoming
Speaking recently to CNBC, Brian Kelly declared an imminent massive influx of big-money players into the cryptocurrency market. The BKCM LLC founder went on to say:
I can tell you from the conversations that we’ve had, for our crypto hedge fund, that the institutional herd is starting to enter this market.
Kelly referred to recent significant developments on the institutional adoption front including Fidelity and Yale. According to Kelly, these recent happenings indicate a positive shift towards an increased mainstream presence in the cryptocurrency industry which would be the catalyst for tremendous growth starting next year.
The BKCM chief also highlighted the importance of Fidelity’s recent foray into the market. Kelly pointed out that the move had the potential to answer some of the nagging issues working against mainstream adoption which is robust custodial tools. Commenting further, Kelly said:
Custody has been a very big hurdle. And having somebody like Fidelity put their stamp on it and say yes, this is a new asset class and we’re going to custody this – and I believe they even said they may have some insurance. So that is a step closer.
$25K Bitcoin Price
For Tom Lee, the present market is overly bearish and that many traders seemed desperate for BTC to bottom out before becoming bullish. Speaking exclusively to Twitter user ‘BlockchainChick,’ the Fundstrat co-founder declared that BTC was currently under its 200-day moving average.
I had the pleasure of speaking with @fundstrat who graced me with his presence and knowledge on what he sees when considering the data on BTC and ETH price trends and predictions… among other things! Check it out: https://t.co/XXtD1TzTqq #bitcoin #ethereum #priceisright pic.twitter.com/pIm0l6j5yH
— Heidi (@blockchainchick) October 20, 2018
According to Lee, based on historical trend, BTC would only increase 50 percent over the next six months. Explaining his analysis further, Lee said:
We [Fundstrat] just published a report this week that pointed out to our clients that when Bitcoin is under its 200-day, it only goes up 50% of the time in the next six months. But when it’s above its 200-day, it is up 80% of the time. So, the trend implied by the 200-day is obviously very important.
Despite the current situation, Lee still holds to his $25,000 price prediction. For Lee, when the BTC mining break-even cost reaches $8,000 to $9,000 by the end of 2018, the price of the asset will rise accordingly.
Do you share the bullish sentiments espoused by both Brian Kelly and Tom Lee? Let us know your thoughts in the comment section below.
Images courtesy of CNBC and Twitter/@BlockchainChick)