Editorial: How High Can Bitcoin (BTC) Price Rise in 2021?

Bitcoin price hit another all-time high yesterday as its price soared above $48,000 in the wake of Tesla’s $1.5 Billion Bitcoin purchase. The 20% price rise also saw Bitcoin price register a record $8,800 24-hour price candle for the first time. The mammoth price candle looks even more significant if we consider the fact only a year ago, Bitcoin price dipped to $4,000 in March.

Max Keiser Predicts Short Term $65k for BTC

As Bitcoin price approaches $50K, with more institutional capital expected to flow in the market, the question about the Bitcoin expected price top has started to crop up again. Bitcoin proponents like Max Keiser believe $65,000 would be a short-term top and expect the top cryptocurrency’s price to surpass $200k by the end of the year.

These price predictions only a year ago would have been discarded for being absurd but today it seems very much possible. This bull season has not just drawn institutional interest but also broke many misconceptions around the top cryptocurrency. Bitcoin price has remained above $30K longer than it has held any of its previous highs, suggesting it has matured as an asset over the years and one of the key reasons institutions are using it as a Treasury Hedge.

Bitcoin’s Scarcity, a Driving Factor Behind Its Rise

Bitcoin’s rising price for sure has made it the center of all the headlines this bull season, however, the likes of PlanB, the popular Stock-to-flow analyst believe BTC’s fixed supply along with the fact that it self sustained is what makes it more formidable as a store of value. PlanB’s stock-to-flow model measure the value of assets based on scarcity, Bitcoin is currently sitting behind Gold on the list.

The Stock-to-value flow chart is also one of the heavily scrutinized models, as many skeptics believe that the chart only measures the supply side of the asset. However, this bull season has proved stock-to-flow quite accurate with its prediction and its price model suggests Bitcoin price topping $100K by the end of the year.

The stock-to-flow model predicts a $100K price at the end of 2021 if Bitcoin follows the 2017 price trends and a price target of $288K if the current bull run mimics 2013. The on-chain metrics and steady price rise suggest the ongoing bull run is following 2013 trends more than 2017,

Bitcoin’s Rising Popularity as Treasury Reserve Asset

The previous bull runs were carried by retail players, one of the key reasons why these bull runs lost steam after a short price burst lasting anywhere from few days to weeks. However, the current bull run is largely attributed to the institutional giants most of whom didn’t take Bitcoin only a couple of years ago. Now the same institutions are not just buying Bitcoin in hoards and worth billions, but also using it as a treasury reserve rather than hold and sell.

MicroStrategy was among the first institutions to convert a portion of their treasury cash into Bitcoin and started buying Bitcoin as early as August Last year when Bitcoin price was trading just above $10k. MicroStrategy has invested nearly $1.57 Billion in Bitcoin up until now and has bought the last two dips at $29K and $31K. Their investment has already nearly doubled since as the company looks to educate other institutions on the benefits of holding Bitcoin.’

MicroStrategy is now joined by Tesla who made the largest single Bitcoin purchase worth $1.5 billion a couple of days ago as many were already speculating the same ever since Elon Musk changed his Twitter Bio to Bitcoin. It is not just Tesla and MicroStrategy who have added Bitcoin to their company’s balance sheet as nearly 15 publically traded companies reportedly hold Bitcoin now.

Bitcoin has managed to grab a significant portion of the Gold market as many traditional hedge fund managers and wall street investors have cut their exposure to gold to invest in Bitcoin.

Different analysts have offered different price targets for Bitcoin price in both the short and long term and a $100K price target at the end of the year seems to be a common belief.