Prolific bitcoin bull and leading Fundstrat analyst Tom Lee has announced he’s no longer going to predict bitcoin prices. It seems the year and the endless crashes it’s brought have seemingly been too much for his team to handle.
Tom Lee has always been there voicing positivity in the name of bitcoin. No matter how much it’s fallen or how badly it’s done over the past year, Lee has always been in the background assuring enthusiasts and die-hard fans that their favorite cryptocurrency would eventually step back into the light.
Bitcoin Fails to Strike Chords
Earlier this year, Lee shocked the crypto community when he predicted that bitcoin would end 2018 at a price of roughly $25,000 per unit, beating out its recent all-time high of nearly $20,000. Later in the year, he lessened his prediction to $20,000, then $15,000 just a few weeks ago.
We’re 11 days away from ringing in 2019, and bitcoin is nowhere near $15,000. In fact, after a recent strain of recovery behavior, bitcoin is barely trading above $4,000. It’s a nice little jump from where it’s been, but it’s far from where we’d like it to be. Unless some sort of Christmas or New Year’s miracle occurs, bitcoin will likely end the year in a slump.
Lee originally emailed his clients on December 13, 2018 and explained:
“We are tired of people asking us about target prices. Because of the inherent volatility in crypto, we will cease to provide any timeframes for the realization of fair value.”
A week later, the news is being released to the public. To be fair to Lee, he’s not the only one who wished big things for bitcoin in 2018. Galaxy Digital’s Mike Novogratz, for example, spent the major part of the year predicting that the father of crypto would end 2018 at a whopping $40,000 – double where it was last December. He later scaled his prediction down to $9,000, though this was also a lost cause.
He did, however, voice positive sentiment towards bitcoin at a November conference, stating:
“I fundamentally think you’re going to see big adaption in 2019 and 2020.”
The Largest Prediction Is Pulled Back
Arthur Hayes – the CEO of BitMEX – made one of the boldest predictions of all for 2018, claiming that the currency would end the year at $50,000. He has since retracted his statement and seemingly suggests that he practically pulled a number out of thin air:
“I was bullish, and I picked a nice round number with psychological significance. With the benefit of hindsight, we are obviously in a bear market.”
Will bitcoin experience bullish conditions in 2019? Post your comments below.
Image courtesy of Shuttershock
