Bitcoin hovered close to the mid-$100,000s on Thursday, Oct. 23, as Normal Chartered’s world head of digital belongings analysis Geoffrey Kendrick warned {that a} transfer beneath $100,000 by this weekend “appears inevitable”—whereas including that any break may very well be fleeting the final final time bitcoin is ever beneath six figures. The remarks, delivered in a mid-week shopper be aware and shared by The Block, body a tactical pullback inside a still-intact macro bull thesis the financial institution has championed for months.
Final-Ever Bitcoin Dip Below $100,000 Forward
Kendrick’s message juxtaposes near-term warning with longer-term conviction. In the identical analysis cycle the place Normal Chartered reiterated a goal of $200,000 by year-end—hinging on ETF demand, company treasury uptake, and a friendlier coverage backdrop—the strategist has now flagged an air-pocket towards sub-$100,000 because the market digests October’s sell-off and a tepid bounce. “A decline beneath $100,000 now seems ‘inevitable,’” Kendrick stated on Wednesday, whereas stressing that any dip needs to be short-lived and sure the “last-ever probability to purchase BTC for lower than six figures.”
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The recalibration follows an early-October swing that noticed bitcoin fail to carry above its current native excessive—Kendrick cited the Oct. 10 risk-off break and the absence of a powerful reflex rally—shifting the financial institution’s focus to the place the market bottoms slightly than whether or not it instantly resumes pattern.
Within the newest be aware, Kendrick pointed to a handful of signposts for a base-building part, together with monitoring capital rotation between gold and bitcoin and the trajectory of US greenback liquidity and quantitative tightening. He additionally noticed that bitcoin has revered its 50-week shifting common since early 2023, a degree he views as an vital longer-duration line within the sand.
The near-term crosscurrents complicate, however don’t upend, Normal Chartered’s cycle map. As just lately as July 2, the financial institution instructed shoppers it anticipated the most important greenback rally on report within the second half of 2025, with bitcoin at $200,000 by Dec. 31. That framing—ETF inflows, company balance-sheet adoption, and regulatory normalization because the dominant drivers—stays the core of Kendrick’s upside case, whilst he concedes {that a} temporary journey below $100,000 is now possible. “The decline might mark the final time to ever purchase BTC for six figures,” the newest dispatch emphasised.
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Market context is aligned with the cautionary near-term tone. Over the previous two weeks, bitcoin has shed roughly ten p.c, with spot buying and selling as we speak round $108,000 as liquidity thins into the weekend and macro sensitivity to coverage headlines stays elevated.
What issues from right here is whether or not the affirmation alerts Kendrick highlighted start to line up. A decisive enchancment in greenback liquidity circumstances, sustained proof of rotation again into bitcoin on the expense of gold, and preservation of higher-timeframe pattern constructions would validate the “final time beneath $100,000” declare.
Absent these, a deeper retracement can’t be dominated out, however that state of affairs would signify a deviation from the financial institution’s revealed roadmap slightly than its base case. For now, Normal Chartered’s message is unambiguous: brace for a dip below six figures, however deal with it—quoting Kendrick straight—as “the last-ever probability to purchase BTC for lower than six figures,” offered the medium-term catalysts reassert.
At press time, BTC traded at $109,953.
Featured picture created with DALL.E, chart from TradingView.com
