By Shawn Langlois, MarketWatch
Getty
Fundstrat strategist Tom Lee earlier this month tapped the brakes on his bold bitcoin outlook, saying its price tag had gotten ahead of the fundamentals.
His hesitation made sense, considering bitcoin had just cruised past his at-the-time bullish forecast of $6,000 by 2018. Things move quickly in the crypto trenches, of course, and October’s massive rally pushed bitcoin /zigman2/quotes/31322028/realtime BTCUSD -0.47% above $7,000.
So Lee urged investors to be cautious.
Well, forget all that. Lee’s back in full-bull mode, raising his target to $11,500 by the middle of 2018, which would be a 40% surge from these levels.
But this is the real zinger: “Last week, bitcoin fell to $5,600 and since then rebounded,” he wrote in a note to clients. “This move to $5,600 cleaned up weak hands and we no longer feel caution is warranted.”
Bitcoin: The World’s Most Dramatic Bubble Ever?
Investment manias throughout the centuries have ranged from tulips to tech stocks to housing; is bitcoin different? Image/Video: Daniel Epstein
The price is bouncing around like a beach ball at a Trump rally, and no caution is warranted? This outlook probably won’t go over very well with the growing number of those calling for the bitcoin bubble to pop.
Read: Here’s what everybody gets wrong about the crypto craze.
Nevertheless, bitcoin continues to bang out record highs, having topped $8,000 last weekend for the first time. At last check, it was up to $8,212.
This article was first published on Nov. 22, 2017.
Add to watchlist
