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Bitcoin ice carving
A large bitcoin ice carving (Kirsty O'Connor/Getty Images)

Standard Chartered: Bitcoin’s dip below $100,000 is “inevitable”

Participants in prediction markets are also betting that bitcoin will dip below $100,000 this year.

Yaël Bizouati-Kennedy

bitcoin is still struggling to rebound noticeably and is hovering around $108,000 Wednesday morning, a 14% drop from its October 6 all-time high.

Geoff Kendrick, global head of digital assets research at Standard Chartered, said that the drop below $100,000 is “inevitable,” but also said it will be “short-lived.”

“Stay nimble and ready to buy the dip below 100k if it comes. It may be the last time bitcoin is EVER below 100k,” he wrote in a Wednesday note, adding, “The question now is how far does bitcoin need to fall before finding a base?”

According to him, several factors are worth keeping an eye on, including gold vs. bitcoin flows and liquidity measures.

Yesterday’s sharp gold selloff coincided with a strong intra-day bounce in bitcoin. Gold has been outperforming bitcoin a lot recently... something which has perhaps started to turn,” he wrote.

Finally, technical metrics are also of note, as the “50 week moving average in bitcoin has held since early 2023 (when bitcoin was 25k and I forecast it to reach 100k by end-2024),” he wrote.

Nonetheless, Kendrick told Sherwood News that he remains “very bullish long term... I’m forecasting 200k year-end 2025 and 500k end 2028.”

Meanwhile, market-implied probabilities derived from event contracts offered on Robinhood show that traders believe there’s a 66% chance bitcoin drops below $100,000 this year. Traders are pricing a 33% chance of a further drop below $90,000 in the predictions market.

(Robinhood Markets Inc. is the parent company of Sherwood Media, an independently operated media company subject to certain legal and regulatory restrictions.)

Nic Puckrin, cofounder of Coin Bureau, noted that bitcoin funding rates are trending into negative territory, while open interest is on the rise again.

“This suggests that traders are mostly opening short positions, and the 24-hour long/short ratio confirms this,” he said.

Puckrin said that the spark could come from the reopening of the US government or a softening of the US-China trade war. Failing that, next week’s Federal Reserve meeting is likely to bring another rate cut.

“At this point, there is more potential for good news than bad. This is precisely why traders should think twice before opening leveraged shorts right now. When everyone bets against the recovery, that’s often when it happens, and the reversal will likely be swift,” he said.

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Justin Sun sues Trump-backed World Liberty over frozen tokens

Crypto billionaire Justin Sun, owner of the world’s most expensive banana, was named an adviser to World Liberty Financial the day after investing $30 million in the project. (He’d later boost that with $45 million more.) Sun has long been a supporter of President Trump, and has not once, but twice topped a competition to amass the most $TRUMP coins. But it seems even for Sun, the gold has turned brass.

Sun announced on social media that he’s filed a lawsuit in a California federal court against the crypto project backed by Trump. 

The lawsuit alleges World Liberty engaged in an “illegal scheme to seize property” and “positioned itself as the new boogeyman” by stripping Sun of his governance rights, threatening to burn his WLFI tokens, and freezing his stash, which at times were worth $1 billion, according to the complaint dated on Tuesday. 

“I have tried in good faith to resolve this situation with the World Liberty project team without resorting to litigation,” Sun wrote in a lengthy X post on Tuesday night. “But the project team has refused my requests to unfreeze my tokens and restore my rights as a token holder. They have left me with no choice but to turn to the courts.”

The complaint also alleged that World Liberty appears to be in financial trouble, citing concerns over whether the project can repay an on-chain loan that was collateralized by using, at the time, $5 billion worth of WLFI. The token reached an all-time low less than two weeks ago.

Despite the escalation with World Liberty, Sun said the lawsuit does not change his feelings about Trump or his administration. “I have always been — and remain — an ardent supporter of President Trump and his Administration’s efforts to make America crypto friendly,” he said. 

The lawsuit alleges World Liberty engaged in an “illegal scheme to seize property” and “positioned itself as the new boogeyman” by stripping Sun of his governance rights, threatening to burn his WLFI tokens, and freezing his stash, which at times were worth $1 billion, according to the complaint dated on Tuesday. 

“I have tried in good faith to resolve this situation with the World Liberty project team without resorting to litigation,” Sun wrote in a lengthy X post on Tuesday night. “But the project team has refused my requests to unfreeze my tokens and restore my rights as a token holder. They have left me with no choice but to turn to the courts.”

The complaint also alleged that World Liberty appears to be in financial trouble, citing concerns over whether the project can repay an on-chain loan that was collateralized by using, at the time, $5 billion worth of WLFI. The token reached an all-time low less than two weeks ago.

Despite the escalation with World Liberty, Sun said the lawsuit does not change his feelings about Trump or his administration. “I have always been — and remain — an ardent supporter of President Trump and his Administration’s efforts to make America crypto friendly,” he said. 

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Sherwood Media, LLC produces fresh and unique perspectives on topical financial news and is a fully owned subsidiary of Robinhood Markets, Inc., and any views expressed here do not necessarily reflect the views of any other Robinhood affiliate, including Robinhood Markets, Inc., Robinhood Financial LLC, Robinhood Securities, LLC, Robinhood Crypto, LLC, Robinhood Derivatives, LLC, or Robinhood Money, LLC. Futures and event contracts are offered through Robinhood Derivatives, LLC.