A wave of pessimism gripped cryptocurrency markets as Bitcoin traded around $86,000, down more than 30% from its October record high. Leading market analysts warn of potential corrections ranging from moderate to drastic crashes.
Veteran trader Peter Brandt issued one of the most alarming warnings on December 14, stating that Bitcoin’s parabolic growth pattern is broken. Historically, such violations have resulted in declines of over 80%.
An 80% correction from the $126,000 peak reached on October 6 would put the cryptocurrency around $25,000.
The Big Players Adjusting Their Bitcoin Price Predictions
Will the price of cryptocurrency rise or fall?
Global macroeconomic analyst Luke Groman, known for his longtime bullish stance on Bitcoin as a hedge against depreciating fiat currencies, has changed his stance to a pessimistic near-term forecast.
He predicts a decline to $40,000 by 2026, citing Bitcoin’s failure to make new highs against gold, breakouts of key moving averages and growing concerns about quantum computing and its potential to compromise the mechanisms behind the cryptocurrency.
Technical analyst Ali Martinez identified $86,000 as a critical support level, warning that a break below it could lead to a deeper correction towards $70,000.
The most extreme forecast comes from Bloomberg Intelligence’s Mike McGlone, who predicts an 88% collapse to $10,000 by 2026, describing the current environment as “post-inflationary deflation.”
These gloomy predictions come amid an expected interest rate hike by the Bank of Japan on December 19, with markets putting the probability at 98%. Historically, patterns have shown Bitcoin falling 20-30% after previous hikes by the Bank of Japan.
The sell-off continues – Bitcoin falls below $86,000
Digital assets also felt the broader macroeconomic changes in global markets
British banking giant Barclays added to the pessimism by predicting that 2026 could be a “weak year” for cryptocurrencies without significant catalysts. Spot trading volumes have collapsed 66% from their peak in January 2025, falling from more than $500 billion to about $250 billion in mid-December. The bank cut its price target on Coinbase shares from $357 to $291, citing shrinking volumes and rising operating costs.
An additional problem is an 8% drop in Bitcoin mining network hashrate power due to the shutdown of a large percentage of miners in China’s Xinjiang region.
Bitcoin is headed for its first year in the red since a disastrous 2022
The most popular cryptocurrency is going through a difficult period amid an increasingly similar performance to that of traditional assets
About 400,000 machines are shut down because Bitcoin is currently worth around and under $90,000 and its mining is at a loss if we factor in hardware depreciation.
In response, leading mining companies such as Core Scientific, IREN, Marathon Digital and Riot Platforms have announced plans to reorient capacity towards AI and high-performance computing, seeking more stable cash flow in the inhospitable market environment.
