By Jack Denton

Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies weakened again Wednesday, though a multi-day correction across crypto seemed to be slowing. The bull case for digital assets still holds, with one bank predicting Bitcoin prices could still hit $150,000 this year.

The price of Bitcoin has fallen less than 1% over the past 24 hours to $63,200, with the largest digital asset having traded as low as $60,828 in its deepest recent trough. Bitcoin hit an all-time high above $73,000 last week after blowing through the November 2021 peak near $69,000, but prices have since fallen amid weakening risk sentiment, volatile trading, and evidence of profit-taking.

“The crypto market correction continues … although there have been some signs of stabilization,” said Alex Kuptsikevich, an analyst at broker FxPro. “Technically, [Bitcoin] remains in a downtrend, with a series of lower lows and lower highs. We will pay attention to … dynamics at the following support levels: $60,300 (correction to 61.8% of the last rally), $56,000 area (50-day average and 50% level) and $51,500 (consolidation area in February).”

Despite recent declines, Bitcoin remains up 50% so far this year, largely as a result of spot Bitcoin exchange-traded funds (ETFs), which were approved by U.S. regulators in January and have ushered in a fresh wave of investor interest in cryptos. These ETFs have accrued record net inflows since their launch, and since the funds buy and hold Bitcoin itself, they have had a significant and mechanical impact on token prices — and one that looks relatively sustainable.

“Rapid inflows to the new Bitcoin spot ETFs have dominated since the ETFs were launched on 11 January, with net inflows exceeding increases in open interest,” Geoff Kendrick, an analyst at the U.K. bank Standard Chartered, wrote Monday in a note, referring to open interest for Bitcoin futures, derivatives that are typically used for leveraged speculation. “This means that while open interest measures are approaching stretched (2021) levels, overall positioning should be more sustainable this time.”

More broadly, Standard Chartered is decidedly bullish on Bitcoin, raising its 2024 price target to $150,000 from $100,000 on Monday “given the more rapid pass-through from ETF inflows to the Bitcoin price to date,” wrote Kendrick.

The bank sees Bitcoin marching higher still based on multiple analyses.

First, assuming Bitcoin prices behave similarly to gold prices in the wake of the first gold exchange-traded products launched in the U.S., Standard Chartered sees Bitcoin rising to the $200,000 level. Second, using a “two-asset gold and Bitcoin optimization,” based on an optimized 80% gold and 20% Bitcoin portfolio at current gold prices, Bitcoin could hit about $190,000, according to the bank.

“The third is a linear extrapolation of the correlation between ETF inflows and the Bitcoin price; this suggests a Bitcoin price level around $250,000 if we assume that total ETF inflows are around our mid-point estimate of $75 billion,” Kendrick wrote. “This suggests to us that $200,000 is the ‘correct’ end-2025 price level for Bitcoin.”

Beyond Bitcoin, Ether — the second-largest crypto by market cap — dropped 1% to $3,230. Smaller tokens or altcoins were steadying after a deep selloff on Tuesday, with Cardano down less than 1% while Polygon rebounded 4%. Memecoins were also paring losses, with Dogecoin up 4% and Shiba Inu 1% higher.