According to a Bank of America survey, a quarter of fund managers anticipate the biggest crypto’s price to pass $75,000 in one year. A fifth predict it will remain relatively flat, fluctuating between $50,000 and $75,000.
The survey also found that long positions on bitcoin were more crowded than those on ESG (environmental, social, and governance). In May and January this year, long bitcoin was named the most crowded trade.
Increasing whale transactions
Experts such as Ki Young Ju, CEO of CryptoQuant, find increasing transactions by bitcoin whales is a sign of rising demand from investors. Ju wrote:
It’s the largest [movement] I’ve ever seen since 2017 excluding outliers.
Last month, just a tenth of fund managers found bitcoin to be the “most crowded” trade. It was exceeded by short positions on China and emerging markets stocks, approximately 15%.
This month, almost 60% of fund managers called bitcoin a bubble, down from 75% in May. Back then, ‘long bitcoin’ was the most crowded trade with almost half of the fund managers surveyed, followed by long positions on technology and short ones on US treasuries.
The respondents in the May survey were 216 in total with $625 billion in assets under management.
Marcus Sotiriou, a trader at GlobalBlock, wrote in an email to CoinDesk:
Historically, bitcoin has risen after past upgrades [to the Bitcoin blockchain], so many see this as possibly history repeating itself.
Sharp Bitcoin rally took analysts and investors by surprise
Bitcoin’s sharp rally has taken investors and analysts by surprise, that’s undeniable. Back in May 2020, it was changing hands for around $9,700. In April this year – less than 12 months later – it hit an all-time high of $63,000. In percentages, this is equivalent to an increase of almost 550%.
A viable retail and institutional investment option
Bitcoin came into being in 2008 and launched in 2009. The premiere crypto has become a viable retail and institutional investment option over the years. It is a hedge against inflation and a lucrative way to preserve and increase value.
One of the best asset classes in 2022
Bitcoin emerged as one of the best asset classes in 2022, slightly outperforming oil and gold. Just over a tenth of respondents in the survey ranked it as the best asset, compared with 10% for oil and gold. Over a third of respondents said emerging market stocks were the best asset class.
