No Rebound Until $50,000? Standard Chartered Slashes Bitcoin Price Target Again

The Bitcoin rout continues to deepen, dragging the broader crypto market into a slump. On Thursday, Standard Chartered analyst Geoff Kendrick cut his year-end target for Bitcoin from $150,000 to $100,000, while slashing his Ethereum forecast from $7,500 to $4,000.

Kendrick warned that Bitcoin could slip below the $50,000 mark before finding a floor for a rebound. With market expectations now pricing in a Fed pause until Kevin Warsh takes the helm in June, ETF holders are showing a preference for liquidating positions rather than "buying the dip."

As of press time, Bitcoin is trading near $66,000, bringing its year-to-date decline to over 24%. Ethereum has breached the psychological $2,000 level, with its YTD losses nearing 35%. In stark contrast, gold has gained 14.56% over the same period.

Marion Laboure, a research analyst at Deutsche Bank, noted in a recent report that the widening divergence between Bitcoin and gold suggests the token is failing to live up to its "digital gold" narrative. She pointed out that billions of dollars have flowed out of institutional ETFs since the October 2025 crash, signaling a sustained loss of interest among traditional investors and deepening pessimism across the crypto space.

The Future of Digital Assets

Sean Farrell, Head of Digital Asset Strategy at Fundstrat, acknowledged the growing frustration over the disconnect between Bitcoin and gold. While the "store of value" thesis remains a long-term goal, Farrell noted that Bitcoin continues to trade like a high-beta growth asset.

The current crypto downturn has been particularly isolated; while it has occasionally tracked broader sell-offs in U.S. equities, the depth and duration of the decline have far outstripped other risk assets. Many analysts point to the October crash as the pivotal moment that shattered market confidence.

Market experts at BitQuant argue that Bitcoin’s premature breach of the $126,000 peak in early October 2025 created structural barriers, preventing the market from building a solid foundation for sustainable gains. They suggest that once Bitcoin consolidates near $60,000, it may regain momentum for a cycle high of $145,000.

However, industry leaders warn that the structural evolution of the crypto market may lead to permanently lower returns. Mike Novogratz, CEO of Galaxy, believes the current downturn marks the end of the "era of pure speculation." As risk-averse institutions enter the space and crypto increasingly integrates with or replaces traditional financial systems through real-world asset (RWA) tokenization, the high-flying returns of the past are likely a thing of the past.