Bitcoin is on the verge of reaching a new peak as early as next week, with potential to ascend to $135,000, according to Standard Chartered’s Global Head of Digital Assets Research in a recent note shared with Decrypt.
Yesterday saw Bitcoin surge past $121,000, aligning with the Q4 trend known as “Uptober.” As of early Friday morning, BTC was valued at approximately $120,420—marking a 1.3% increase from the previous day based on data from crypto price aggregator CoinGecko.
While Bitcoin seems to be following its Uptober pattern this year, Geoff Kendrick from Standard Chartered noted that it has deviated from its usual post-halving decline seen 18 months after such events. If this were still true today, we would be witnessing price drops following the April 2024 halving.
Kendrick highlighted additional influencing factors.
“The government shutdown is significant this time,” Kendrick explained. “During Trump’s previous shutdown (22 Dec 2018 to 25 Jan 2019), Bitcoin’s circumstances were different and had minimal impact. However now it trades alongside ‘U.S. government risks,’ most evident through its correlation with U.S. treasury term premium.”
The recent upward movement has bolstered confidence among users on Myriad—a prediction market under DASTAN’s ownership—that BTC will sustain these levels over the coming two weeks. Approximately 49% believe Bitcoin will remain above $120k by October 15—a notable jump compared to just two days ago when only about one-fifth expected such stability mid-month.
Kendrick also anticipates growing institutional interest towards year-end.
“Net inflows into Bitcoin ETFs have reached $58 billion so far—with $23 billion recorded in just this year alone,” he stated.”I foresee an additional $20 billion by December’s close—a figure supporting my forecast for BTC hitting $200k before year’s end.”