Institutional investors aren’t likely to be the ones to push Bitcoin to new highs this year without a market-moving event, according to macro researcher and FFTT founder, Luke Gromen.
“If you’re counting on institutional investors to run it from you know 90 to you know 150, if that’s your plan, that’s probably not going to happen without some major catalyst,” Gromen told Natalie Brunell on an episode of Coin Stories published to YouTube on Wednesday.
“That’s not how institutional investors act,” he said. “They’re going to sit there and just go, I’ll wait. I’ll wait,” he said.
A rise from Bitcoin’s (BTC) current price of around $89,880 to $150,000 would be a 67% increase, and 18.86% above its all-time high of $126,198, according to CoinMarketCap.
“At the very least that suggests there’s a whole lot of wood to chop for Bitcoin,” Gromen said.
Significant market catalysts currently under watch are the US CLARITY Act, which is now facing uncertainty over its rollout, and potential further quantitative easing through more rate cuts from the US Federal Reserve.
Institutions still interested in Bitcoin: CryptoQuant CEO
Crypto market participants often see growing institutional interest as a signal that prices could rise in the near term. On Wednesday, CryptoQuant CEO Ki Young Ju said that “institutional demand for Bitcoin remains strong.”
Ju pointed to the 577,000 Bitcoin bought up by institutional funds over the past year, which is equivalent to roughly $53 billion. “Still flowing in,” he reiterated.
In December, asset management company Grayscale pointed to institutional demand and clearer US regulations as the main catalysts behind its forecast for Bitcoin hitting new all-time highs in the first half of 2026.
Gromen plays with idea of Bitcoin dropping to $60K
Gromen said there is a possibility that Bitcoin “could easily” go to $60,000.
He floated the possibility of an “all-out trade war,” the US becoming isolated from the rest of the world, or even a recession, as scenarios that could trigger major Bitcoin sell-offs and dampen institutional interest.
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“What happens to the cash flows of those businesses, do they have to turn sellers? Are the treasury companies of this cycle the forced sellers like we saw around FTX in 2022?” he said.
Treasury companies forced to sell would potentially flood the market with supply.
Michael Saylor’s Strategy is the largest public Bitcoin treasury holder with 709,715 Bitcoin, worth approximately $63.77 billion, according to SaylorTracker.
Meanwhile, overall Bitcoin public treasury companies hold approximately 1.13 million Bitcoin, valued at approximately $101.56 billion, according to BitcoinTreasuries.NET data.
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