Yahoo Finance Bitcoin bull run: analysts predict record rally to end 2021
Bitcoin’s price was up on Friday morning and has managed to hold above a key level of $50,000 (£36,785), as analysts predict cryptocurrencies are going to soar in the last quarter of 2021.
At the time of writing, bitcoin (BTC-USD) was up 1.2% to trade at $55,224. Ethereum (ETH-USD), the world’s second largest crypto by market cap, was up 0.5% to trade at $3,600.
This comes amid reassuring statements from the US that they will not come down hard on cryptos – following a regulatory crackdown in China – and news that the investment firm founded by billionaire George Soros owns bitcoin.
Soros is rumoured to have been trading in bitcoin for the past few months and the head of Soros Fund Management, Dawn Fitzpatrick, recently said: "I'm not sure bitcoin is viewed only as an inflation hedge here. It's crossed the chasm to mainstream."
Nick Spanos, crypto investor and founder of Zap Protocol, said: “Bitcoin, ethereum and the broader crypto market are likely to have a ludicrously strong fourth quarter, and I predict we will see new all-time highs across the board by 2022."
He said the two major cryptos are already approaching their all-time highs – bitcoin hit $63,000 in April – and predicts bitcoin will breach the $100,000 mark as early as year-end, while ethereum will hit $10,000 to $12,000.
According to Spanos, “the market has already demonstrated itself to be increasingly resilient to adverse market developments, such as China clamping down on crypto or Tesla (TSLA) Elon Musk backtracking on his pro-crypto stance”.
He added: "This is crucial to crypto’s long-term success, and I believe the market will become even more resilient as crypto investors get used to seeing crypto always bounce back better and stronger."
“This will result in less panic-selling, and therefore dips and market crashes will become a much rarer occurrence.”
His thoughts echo what Nigel Green, CEO and founder of financial advisory organisation deVere Group, had said earlier: “I’m confident that if the current momentum in prices continues, we could see the bitcoin price hit to-date unknown highs of $100,000."
Looking at the shorter term, Naeem Aslam, chief market analyst at AvaTrade, said the price level which matters the most for bitcoin is $60,000.
“Bitcoin has tested the $50,000 price level a few times now, and if the positive momentum continues to support the price action, we could be looking at a healthy weekend for cryptos.”
As for ethereum, he said: “It is highly likely that the price may test the 4K price level, and that may open the door for the price to retest its all-time high, which matters the most.”
Another crypto investors are keeping an eye on is the meme token Shiba Inu (SHIB-USD).
It surged earlier this week after Musk tweeted a photo of his puppy, which is the same breed the token is named after. However, it was down almost 27% on Friday.
Watch: What are the risks of investing in cryptocurrency?
