Bitcoin’s October Slowdown Masks Strength, Analysts Predict Catch-Up With Gold

Bitcoin BTC$89,715.37 is lagging its usual October pace but at least some analysts say its steadiness near the $111,000 mark signals strength, not weakness.

The price action today will be familiar to frustrated bitcoin bulls, with gold and silver surging yet again to new record highs and U.S. stocks in the green. Bitcoin, though, remained under pressure, slipping 1.2% over the past 24 hours to $111,500. Losses were somewhat steeper across the rest of the crypto sector, with ether and XRP dipping 3% and solana and dogecoin dropping roughly 2%.

Patience say analysts

Speaking at the Digital Asset Summit in London on Wednesday, Quinn Thompson, chief investment officer at Lekker Capital, said bitcoin’s time is coming.

“I posit that we will catch up to gold,” he told attendees. “It will start very soon and the move that is about to come in bitcoin and crypto broadly will resemble a November 2024 and an October 2023 type of move.”

Matt Mena, a crypto research analyst at 21Shares, voiced a similar outlook, saying bitcoin’s durability through global uncertainty is “underscoring how structural demand—anchored by ETF inflows and a more dovish policy outlook—continues to provide a floor.” With leverage flushed out and monetary easing approaching, Mena projects bitcoin could climb to $150,000 before year-end.

Much depends on the Federal Reserve and expectations that the U.S. central bank will continue easing monetary policy. In its Beige Book released Wednesday, a summary of economic conditions across the Fed’s 12 regional banks, the central bank reported signs of growing weakness in the labor market, suggesting market anticipation of rate cuts at both of its remaining policy meetings this year remains on track.

Fed Chair Jerome Powell avoided specifics on rates during remarks Tuesday but alo acknowledged “softness” in the labor market, reinforcing market’s belief that further policy easing is on the table.