Standard Chartered Reaffirms $100,000 Bitcoin Target

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, 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.

ETF Flows and Supply the Key Drivers

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 problem
CoinDesk: Standard Chartered sees Bitcoin sliding to $50,000 before recovery
Bloomberg: StanChart Cuts Bitcoin 2026 Target to $100,000