Bitwise CIO warns of retail capitulation while institutional demand for Bitcoin persists

Bitcoin is now trading below $100,000, dipping to its lowest level since June, and the panic button has already been slammed by most retail ￰0￱ trades have collapsed, sentiment is wrecked, and what’s left looks a lot like a crypto ￰1￱ Matt Hougan, chief investment officer at Bitwise, isn’t ￰2￱ sees this brutal selloff as the exact setup that could end with Bitcoin hitting a new all-time high before the year is ￰3￱ Tuesday on CNBC, Matt said, “It’s almost a tale of two ￰4￱ retail is in max desperation. We’ve seen leverage blowouts … the market for sort of crypto native retail is just more depressed than I’ve ever seen it.” For him, that desperation is a bottom ￰5￱ retail is pulling the plug, Matt says institutions are still very much in the game, and they’re not ￰6￱ said that financial advisors and Wall Street firms he speaks with are still eager to gain exposure to Bitcoin, even with the recent pullback.

“When I go out and speak to institutions or financial advisors, they’re still excited to allocate to an asset class that if you pan back and look over the course of a year, is still delivering very strong returns,” Matt ￰7￱ appetite holds strong despite crash The big players aren’t ￰8￱ ETFs tied to Bitcoin have seen slower inflows since Q2, the money hasn’t ￰9￱ pointed to continued strength in vehicles like iShares Bitcoin Trust (IBIT), Fidelity Wise Origin Bitcoin Fund (FBTC), and the Grayscale Bitcoin Trust (GBTC). All three are still pulling ￰10￱ his words, “We continue to see strong inflows into bitcoin.” Matt also mentioned Bitwise’s own Solana staking ETF (BSOL), which pulled in over $400 million in its first ￰11￱ enthusiasm took a hit ￰12￱ its October 28 debut, the fund has dropped almost 20%.

Even so, Matt believes financial advisors are using this downturn to prove to clients they understand where the space is ￰13￱ expects them to increase allocations before the year ￰14￱ called out the need for one final clean-out of retail sentiment before the market can move forward. “We have to get through this retail flush ￰15￱ have to hit bottom from a sentiment perspective. I think we’re very close to that,” he ￰16￱ believes that once sellers give up and buyers start stepping back in, the price could accelerate ￰17￱ decouples from stocks as predictions return Despite hovering near a six-month low, Matt isn’t ruling out a major ￰18￱ even said he wouldn’t be surprised to see Bitcoin surge past $125,000 or even $130,000 before year-end.

“I think bitcoin could easily end the year at new all-time highs,” he said. “Whether we’ll get all the way to $150,000, we’ll have to see.” He referenced Michael Saylor, CEO of Strategy, who recently told CNBC he expects Bitcoin to reach $150,000. Matt said Saylor’s forecast isn’t crazy. “I do think the sellers are nearing exhaustion and the buyers are still relatively ￰19￱ when those two things sort of cross paths, again, I think we could end the year close to or at new all-time ￰20￱ if we’re lucky, we’ll get to Saylor’s target as well,” he ￰21￱ described institutional investors as more stable in their approach to crypto , and said they’ll be the ones to drive the market forward once the retail bleed-out is done.

“I think we’re closer to the end of that than the beginning, but … there always could be a little bit more downside,” he ￰22￱ also pointed out that the gap between Bitcoin and the stock market is ￰23￱ the past week, Bitcoin has dropped 12.2%, sharply underperforming the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq, which fell 1.2% and 0.9% ￰24￱ believes that if stocks would just settle down or perhaps surge a bit again, Bitcoin has more room to ￰25￱ of Wednesday morning, Dow futures were up 36 points, S&P 500 futures slipped 0.2%, and Nasdaq 100 futures dropped 0.4%. Earlier in the session, the Dow Jones fell 251 points, S&P lost 1.2%, and the Nasdaq Composite tumbled 2%.

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