Welcome to Trade Secrets — Bitcoin and Ether price predictions from top analysts, along with options data, sentiment analysis and prediction markets to determine what they can tell us about the months and years ahead.
Tick, tock, Bitcoin… the $150,000 window is closing: Peter Brandt
After soaring to new highs in August, Bitcoin is now facing a critical test for its next major move, according to veteran trader Peter Brandt.
“I think there is still room for one more big thrust, perhaps to $125,000 to $150,000, but it is running out of time,” Brandt tells Magazine.
“The market feels toppy,” Brandt says, explaining that the asset is entering the period where he initially thought it would hit a price ceiling. Bitcoin is trading at $109,087 at the time of publication, and Brandt says he will “remain constructive” so long as the price holds above $107,000.
If it falls below that, he will “adopt the attitude that a 50% decline from the highs might occur.”
With Bitcoin reaching new highs of $124,128 on Aug. 14, a 50% drop would drag it back to around $60,000 — a level last seen in October 2024. That kind of move would leave Strategy’s Michael Saylor red-faced after declaring in June that “winter is not coming back.”
But other analysts are still holding out for prices above $150,000 by the end of this year.
Galaxy Digital’s head of research, Alex Thorn, tipped Bitcoin would reach $150,000 to $180,000 this year back in December 2024, while BitMEX co-founder Arthur Hayes, Unchained’s Joe Burnett and Fundstrat’s Tom Lee have all tipped $250,000 by the end of the year.
Ether is quiet for now, but fireworks coming
After topping its 2021 highs recently, Ether is quietly building pressure again, with market signals pointing to a potential surge by November, says Polymath co-founder Trevor Koverko.
“Likely, we’re in a consolidation phase at the moment, but I see a breakout coming,” Koverko tells Magazine, after Ether reclaimed its 2021 all-time high of $4,870 on August 22.
“Ethereum looks poised for a grind higher over the next one to two months,” he adds, especially if ETF inflows stay strong and L2 activity keeps ramping up.
US-based spot Ether ETFs saw a massive $3.87 billion in net inflows in August. Total inflows since their July 2024 launch are up to $13.53 billion, according to Farside data.
Meanwhile, treasury companies now hold 3.3 million ETH, or 2.75% of the supply, worth $14.3 billion at publication, according to StrategicETHReserve.
Koverko says key catalysts for an upward move in the coming months include accelerating real-world asset tokenization and potential interest rate cuts from the US Federal Reserve.
CME’s FedWatch Tool shows market participants see an 86.4% chance of the US Federal Reserve cutting interest rates for the first time this year in September, which is typically seen as a bullish signal for crypto as investors look for higher returns in riskier assets.
Ether bullishness has been growing exponentially lately among treasury company chairs.
Declaring BitMine’s Tom Lee wasn’t bullish enough, Ethereum co-founder Joseph Lubin recently said in an X post that Ether “will likely 100x from here.” “Probably much more,” Lubin said, claiming that the asset “will flippen” the Bitcoin monetary base.
XRP’s next target may be a 78% surge. Buying opportunity first?
XRP is now at a crossroads after tapping new yearly highs in July, says Swyftx lead analyst Pav Hundal.
“It’s make-or-break time for XRP,” Hundal tells Magazine.
“Historically, September is a red month across markets, and normally, that would have me concerned for XRP’s near-term price, but the tariff wars have thrown seasonal patterns out of the window this year,” he explains.
“The technicals are solid, and if you use a simple Fibonacci extension, you can make a case for XRP’s next target being within the $4.90 range,” he says.
A move up to here would represent a 78% surge from its current price of $2.76 and a 34% spike above its current all-time high of $3.88.
XRP fell short of reclaiming its all-time high in July when it reached a yearly high of $3.66.
Hundal cautions that the move may not be straight upward and that “we could see lower first.”
“The specter of XRP’s monthly token unlock makes me a little cautious about some of the $10 targets I’m seeing right now. We don’t know for a fact that Ripple won’t sell these unlocks into a positive price move,” he says. Ripple releases 1 billion XRP on the first day of each month from a series of escrows it created in 2017, when it locked up 55 billion XRP.
Meanwhile, pseudonymous analyst XForceGlobal recently said XRP may be preparing another bullish impulse and that “$20 remains the primary cycle…
cointelegraph.com