Pre-ETF BTC price ‘crash’ or $150K in 2025? Bitcoin forecasts diverge

Bitcoin (BTC) will โ€œmost likelyโ€ see a serious price drawdown before a key date for institutional investors dawns, says gold bug Peter Schiff.

In recent X activity, the longtime Bitcoin skeptic sounded the alarm over recent BTC price gains.

Schiff bets on a BTC price “crash” before ETF launches

Bitcoin is a favoirte topic of criticism for Peter Schiff, the chief economist and global strategist at asset management firm Europac.

Throughout the years, he has repeatedly insisted that unlike gold, Bitcoinโ€™s value is destined to return to zero, and that no one in fact wishes to hold it except in order to sell higher later on.

Now, with BTC/USD circling 18-month highs, he has turned his attention to what others say will be a watershed moment for cryptocurrency โ€” the launch of the United Statesโ€™ first Bitcoin spot price exchange-traded fund (ETF).

An approval is thought to be due in early 2024, while rumors that a green light could come in November are thought to have fueled last weekโ€™s ascent past $37,000.

While some believe that the announcement will be a โ€œsell the newsโ€ event, where investors reduce exposure once certainty over the ETF hits, for Schiff, a BTC price comedown may not even wait for that.

In an X survey on Nov. 9, he offered two scenarios for a Bitcoin โ€œcrashโ€ โ€” before and after the ETF launch. Alternatively, respondents could choose โ€œBuy and HODL till the moon,โ€ which ultimately became the most popular choice with 68% of the nearly 25,000 votes.

Despite this, however, Schiff stood his ground.

โ€œBased on the results my guess is that Bitcoin crashes before the ETF launch,โ€ he responded.

โ€œThat why the people who bought the rumor won’t actually profit if they wait for the fact to sell.โ€

AllianceBernstein: Bitcoin ETF “getting slowly priced in”

As Cointelegraph reported, the mood among the institutional sphere is lightening as the ETF debate looks increasingly set to end in Bitcoinโ€™s favor.

Related:ย Bitcoin โ€˜Terminal Priceโ€™ hints next BTC all-time high is at least $110K

Among the latest optimistic BTC price forecasts is that of AllianceBernstein, which last week predicted a peak of $150,000 next cycle.

โ€œWe believe early flows could be slower and the build up could be more gradual, and post-halving is when ETF flows momentum could build, leading to a cycle peak in 2025 and not 2024,โ€ analysts wrote in a note quoted by MarketWatch and others.

โ€œThe current BTC break-out is just simply ETF approval news getting slowly priced in and then the market monitors the initial outflows and likely gets disappointed in the short run.โ€

An accompanying chart showed BTC price past and future behavior delineated by halving cycles.

BTC/USD cycle phases (screenshot). Source: AllianceBernstein/MarketWatch

This article does not contain investment advice or recommendations. Every investment and trading move involves risk, and readers should conduct their own research when making a decision.