Current market conditions will pose challenges for Bitcoin to achieve its early 2025 price increases as it heads into 2026, according to Ophelia Snyder, co-founder of 21Shares.
“It’s improbable that the elements driving today’s volatility will completely settle in the near future,” Snyder mentioned to Cointelegraph.
“A similar performance next January will heavily depend on overall market sentiment.”
Snyder noted that January typically sees a resurgence of “renewed inflows” into Bitcoin (BTC) exchange-traded funds as investors adjust and reorganize their portfolios at the year’s start.
Downtrend isn’t “anything crypto specific”
Snyder expressed uncertainty regarding Bitcoin’s performance in January, due to the currently low level of positive market sentiment.
Bitcoin achieved a peak of $109,000 on Jan. 9, just a day before Donald Trump’s inauguration, as traders anticipated that his proposed initiatives for the crypto industry would drive a rally.
Bitcoin surged to its latest high of $125,100 on Oct. 5 but soon faced a downtrend following a $19 billion liquidation event in the crypto market on Oct. 10.
This incident led many market players to adopt a more cautious short-term price outlook, despite having initially held more positive year-end price expectations.
Currently, Bitcoin is trading at $92,150, reflecting a decline of almost 10% over the past 30 days, as noted by CoinMarketCap.
Nonetheless, Snyder remains optimistic for the long-term outlook.
“I’m feeling more bullish as I perceive this recent correction as a reaction to broader market conditions’ general risk-off sentiment, rather than something specific to crypto,” she stated.
Catalysts ahead for upside and downside
Snyder indicated that various factors could contribute to Bitcoin’s outperformance, such as the growth of crypto ETFs on major platforms, increased government adoption, and heightened demand for alternatives to gold as stores of value.
Related: Strategy won’t be forced to sell Bitcoin if stock drops, Bitwise CIO says
She highlighted potential catalysts that might hinder Bitcoin’s performance, including risk-off sentiment across larger financial markets and persistent strength in gold, which could make Bitcoin less attractive to traditional investors.
However, other industry leaders are more hopeful about a revival.
BitMine chair Tom Lee recently predicted that Bitcoin will reach new highs before January 2026 concludes.
Since 2013, Bitcoin has averaged a return of 3.81% during January, as per CoinGlass.
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