Bank Holds Firm on Year-End Call Standard Chartered is standing by its $100,000 year-end price target for $BTC, even as the market navigates a stretch of notable volatility. Geoffrey Kendrick
Standard Chartered is standing by its $100,000 year-end price target for $BTC, even as the market navigates a stretch of notable volatility. Geoffrey Kendrick, the bank's global head of digital assets research, has called Bitcoin at current levels "a screaming buy."
The bank is maintaining its end-2026 Bitcoin forecast of $100,000, arguing that recent selling pressure reflects temporary, identifiable factors rather than any deterioration in Bitcoin's underlying investment case.That pressure has been driven by a surprise sale from Strategy, spot ETF outflows, and broader crypto market liquidations.
Standard Chartered has cut its Bitcoin price forecast twice in less than three months, arriving at its current $100,000 call after lowering an earlier projection of $150,000.In December, the bank had already slashed that target from $300,000. Despite the step-downs, the bank is treating each revision as a recalibration of timing rather than a loss of conviction in Bitcoin's structural story.
Kendrick has pointed to inflows into US spot ETFs and from institutional investors as the primary catalysts expected to push Bitcoin toward the $100,000 level by year-end. The bank's research division also flags a developing supply squeeze as a supporting factor heading into the final quarter of 2026.
Kendrick left his longer-term projections unchanged, maintaining an end-2030 target of $500,000 for Bitcoin, arguing that usage trends and structural drivers remain intact.
JPMorgan analysts have taken a more cautious view, saying the formalization of Strategy's bitcoin sale policy introduces "avoidable two-way risk" into crypto markets by making the company both a buyer and a seller.Grayscale's head of research Zach Pandl took the opposite view, arguing that the sales strengthen Strategy's balance sheet and help Bitcoin find a more durable bottom.
For now, Standard Chartered appears unmoved. The bank's position is that the recent turbulence is noise, not a trend reversal, and that the structural case for $BTC heading into year-end remains intact.
Sources:The Block: Standard Chartered keeps $100,000 Bitcoin target, calls Strategy selloff a signaling problemCoinDesk: Standard Chartered sees Bitcoin sliding to $50,000 before recoveryBloomberg: StanChart Cuts Bitcoin 2026 Target to $100,000
