Bitcoin $BTC ( ▲ 1.35% ) hasn’t been acting like “digital gold” lately.
After briefly pushing near $93,000 on Sunday night, bitcoin slid back toward $90,000 Monday morning and has largely been stuck in that same range for days, even as political headlines around the Federal Reserve helped send actual gold ripping to record highs.
Still, Standard Chartered isn’t flinching.
Standard Chartered Says New High Coming in H1 2026
Geoff Kendrick, Standard Chartered’s global head of digital assets research, reiterated in a January 12 note that the bank still expects bitcoin to hit $150,000 in 2026, even after halving that projection last month.
Kendrick’s base case is that bitcoin hits a fresh all-time high in the first half of 2026, driven by two main catalysts:
passage of the CLARITY Act
solid performance in U.S. equities
In his words, that setup should push BTC higher “defying fears of further price declines” at this point in the halving cycle.
The Bank Still Sees $500,000 by 2030
Standard Chartered also laid out longer-term price targets, projecting:
2027: $225,000
2028: $300,000
2029: $400,000
2030: $500,000
That timeline is a bit slower than before. The bank previously expected bitcoin to reach $500K in 2029.
Bitcoin ETF Flows Are Still a Headwind
On the near-term downside, the biggest problem is flows.
Bitcoin ETFs saw $681 million in outflows last week, according to SoSoValue, which continues to act like a weight on price even while trading volume remains active.
Timothy Misir, head of research at Blockhead Research Network, described it as “active repositioning rather than disengagement,” pointing to elevated weekly trading volume of $19.5 billion.
The Price Level Traders Are Watching: $95,000
From a market-structure angle, Misir said the key line in the sand is $95,000.
That level matters because it’s where:
overhead supply sits
dealer positioning starts to pinch the market
His take is simple:
if $BTC ( ▲ 0.05% ) can’t reclaim $95K, it likely stays range-bound
if it breaks cleanly, the upside could turn reflexive fast due to lighter positioning and improving options dynamics
Bottom line: bitcoin might be stuck right now, but Standard Chartered is still calling for a major breakout this year, and it thinks the next big leg higher starts once crypto gets regulatory clarity and risk assets stay strong.