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Citi analysts reiterate bitcoin $143,000 base case projection despite bitcoin tumbling

Bitcoin ETFs also suffered on Wednesday.

1/8/26 9:31AM

Despite bitcoin tumbling 2.3% over the past 24 hours, Citi analysts stayed firm and kept their 12-month base case expectation of $143,000 for the token. They set a bear case expectation of $78,000.

Alex Saunders, Citi’s head of global quant macro strategy, said the price will be mainly driven by “revived ETF demand and positive equity forecasts,” while the bear scenario is “premised on recessionary macro factors.”

Bitcoin has been trading in the $89,704 to $92,126 range in the past 24 hours, finally breaking its new year winning streak.

Meanwhile, bitcoin ETFs are also suffering, experiencing $486 million in outflows on Wednesday, according to SoSoValue.

Ryan Lee, chief analyst at Bitget, told Sherwood News that the recent 24-hour pullback in bitcoin is a “typical short-term correction driven by profit-taking and ongoing macro uncertainty.”

“In maturing markets, these resets are often constructive, helping clear excess leverage and setting the stage for more sustainable advances rather than signaling a breakdown in structure,” Lee said.

Sage D. Young

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Ethereum nears key levels as macro repricing weighs on crypto industry

Around $315.6 million worth of leveraged long positions would be liquidated on Hyperliquid if the price of ethereum dropped to $1,350.

Yaël Bizouati-Kennedy

Half-price sale

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Bitcoin falls 50% from all-time high and on track for its worst month since June 2022

“The market is priced for catastrophe,” the head of research at Amberdata said.

Sage D. Young2/23/26

Buterin’s sales, ETF outflow streak weigh on ethereum

The price of ethereum remains under pressure as ethereum cofounder Vitalik Buterin selling a tranche of his holdings and sustained spot ETF outflows act as headwinds for the second-largest cryptocurrency.

Buterin sold $5.9 million worth of ethereum over the past several days after withdrawing 3,500 tokens from lending protocol Aave, on-chain data from blockchain analytics firm Arkham Intelligence shows. Since the beginning of the month, Buterin has reportedly sold 8,000 tokens.

“Historically, his sales have funded ecosystem development or philanthropy rather than signaling reduced conviction,” per Kelly Ye, deputy chief investment officer of Avenir Group. “It may create short-term sentiment pressure, but it’s not necessarily a structural negative — especially given his continued active role in building ethereum,” Ye told Sherwood News.

Meanwhile, spot ethereum ETFs recorded $123.4 million in outflows last week, marking the fifth consecutive week of outflows. In total, nearly $1.4 billion has exited from the funds during the stretch, data from SoSoValue shows. “ETF outflows reflect positioning and liquidity conditions more than protocol fundamentals. ETH is still being treated tactically by many allocators rather than as a core allocation,” Ye added.

The longest outflow streak for the investment vehicles is eight weeks, occurring between February and April 2025, when the cryptocurrency dropped from $2,200 to under $1,600.

Still, pockets of demand persist. BitMine Immersion Technologies, the leading ethereum treasury firm, acquired roughly $100 million worth of tokens last week, according to a press release.

“In the midst of this ‘mini crypto winter,’ our focus continues to be on methodically executing our treasury strategy and steadily acquiring ETH and in turn, optimizing the yield on our ETH holdings,” BitMine Chairman Tom Lee said in a statement.

Yaël Bizouati-Kennedy

2/23/26

Bitcoin market pain intensifies as ETF outflows continue and miner exits for AI

Meanwhile, Strategy is unfazed by bitcoin’s woes and announced its 100th bitcoin purchase.