Bitcoin Is in Price Discovery Again—How Much Higher Will It Go?

Bitcoin is on a roll—again.

The biggest digital coin was soaring by the time traditional markets opened Monday morning. By midday New York time, it had already broken record after record.

Now, Bitcoin’s price has already popped above $88,000 per coin, according to CoinGecko, after having shot up 10% in the past 24 hours. Over a seven-day period, the asset has jumped 30%.

Some analysts told Decrypt that it still has a long way to go due to hype around the election and subsequent Trump trade.

“We would argue that prices could rise further given we have a combination of positive political momentum, social media hype, a continuation of interest rate cuts and the prospects of Bitcoin becoming a strategic reserve asset in the U.S.,” CoinShares Head of Research James Butterfill said.

He added that Bitcoin touching $100,000 sooner rather than later wasn’t unlikely—as such a target would reflect just 10% of gold’s market share.

President-elect Donald Trump managed to score a shock victory in a tight race against Democratic Vice President Kamala Harris for the White House. He wooed Silicon Valley—including the crypto industry—during his campaign, promising to help make the U.S. the “crypto capital of the planet.”

This made him a favorite for those going long on the future prices of digital assets.

Part of this is down to a more favorable regulatory climate for the industry going forward, Amberdata Director of Derivatives Greg Magadini told Decrypt—especially with Trump saying he would replace current Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) Chair, Gary Gensler.

Magadini said that options traders were betting on Bitcoin hitting the $90,000 to $100,000 range within the next month.

But he added: “Should the market get there, we might see prices struggle, unless sentiment shifts further bullish.”

Meanwhile, CryptoQuant’s Head of Research Julio Moreno told Decrypt that different valuation metrics were pointing to Bitcoin hitting $95,000 to $104,000 per coin.

Mainstream financial institutions still think the asset has room to run, though: In a report last week, analyst at America’s biggest bank, JP Morgan, said that the so-called “Trump trade” could last another eight weeks.

This, the analysts argued, is not only down to Trump wanting to support the tech industry but also step up his tariff policy. Tariffs, taxes on imported goods, are likely to lead to an increase in inflation, economists have argued. And Bitcoin has long been touted as an inflation hedge.

Analysts at Bernstein said in another report this month that Trump trade or not, the asset dubbed “digital gold” would still hit $200,000 by the end of next year.

Bulls all around

Edited by Andrew Hayward