Bitcoin Enters a New Growth Phase: Analysts’ Target is $200,000

Bitcoin has for the first time in its 17-year history surpassed $125,000 over the weekend, and is currently at $124,000.

The price of bitcoin surged to a new record level with nearly $50 billion in trading volume in the last 24 hours, according to data from CoinGecko. While optimistic traders pushed the price upward, nearly $100 million in short positions were liquidated in just one hour, according to CoinGlass. More than $200 million in bitcoin short positions turned into forced buyers in the last 24 hours.

A combination of favorable macroeconomic conditions and rising institutional interest in digital assets has served bitcoin well throughout the year, and several analysts have recently stated that they expect appetite for bitcoin to continue to grow, despite signs of potential exhaustion in the crypto market earlier this week.

– The broader setup remains optimistic, with the extended government shutdown likely to continue fueling interest in hard assets and supporting demand for bitcoin as an alternative store of value – said Joe DiPasquale, CEO of crypto asset manager BitBull Capital.

As the price of bitcoin surged on Friday during the early afternoon trading hours in the U.S., the rise paused as it seemed traders were satisfied to get something below the previous high of $124,128.

But not this time. Analysts at the British multinational bank Standard Chartered, who have long been optimistic about bitcoin, do not think this is where it stops. Geoff Kendrick, the bank’s global head of digital assets, stated in an investor note released on Friday that he expects the price of bitcoin to reach at least $135,000 in the near future and exceed $200,000 before the end of the year.

Users on prediction markets accurately predicted that bitcoin would reach $125,000, placing the odds above 90 percent on Friday. At this point, users of such platforms also believe that bitcoin will outperform ethereum in the rise in October.