Citigroup Inc.Citi's year-end Bitcoin target of $82,000 is cited as one of the bank forecasts that have repeatedly missed actual closes.
Bernstein has told clients that Bitcoin will reach $150,000 by the end of December, a call that would require a 95% gain from its current price of $76,941 with only 15 weeks left in the year. Analyst Gautam Chhugani and his team call $150,000 their base case for the end of 2026, citing rising US debt and continued institutional flows into spot Bitcoin ETFs, and project $200,000 by mid-2027 and $500,000 by 2029. Prediction market traders disagree sharply: on Polymarket, where $65.88 million has been wagered, the $150,000 touch carries just a 3% chance, while a drop to $75,000 is priced at 89% and $70,000 at 64%, with Bitcoin now trading only 2.6% above the first of those levels. Kalshi traders, who have wagered more than $10.6 million, see a year-end close of $75,000, and assign a 51% probability to Bitcoin first crossing $100,000 by June 2027. Standard Chartered, whose global head of digital assets research Geoff Kendrick has twice cut his target from $300,000 to $150,000 and then to $100,000, expects $100,000 by the end of December, while Citi sits at $82,000 after two cuts from $143,000; both banks' published year-end targets have missed Bitcoin's actual December 31 close in 2023, 2024 and 2025. The two camps converge on the $95,000 level, which Polymarket gives a 31% chance of being reached, the highest odds for any upward move.
Citigroup Inc.Citi's year-end Bitcoin target of $82,000 is cited as one of the bank forecasts that have repeatedly missed actual closes.
Standard Chartered PLCStandard Chartered's Geoff Kendrick twice cut his Bitcoin target to $100,000, a forecast noted for missing prior year-end closes.
Bernstein told clients Bitcoin will hit $150,000 by December, its base case for end-2026, citing US debt and ETF inflows.