Bitcoin under pressure in Asia after Standard Chartered warning
The broader crypto market has shed nearly US$2 trillion in value over the same stretch
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[WELLINGTON] Cryptocurrencies remained under pressure on Friday (Feb 13) in Asia after Standard Chartered warned of further Bitcoin weakness and the largest US crypto exchange swung to a loss in the fourth quarter.
Bitcoin was trading just above US$66,000 at 9.30 am in Singapore after falling as much as 4 per cent in New York to US$65,079, it’s lowest level this week. Ether was sitting around US$1,940, also close to the week’s low.
“We expect further price capitulation in the next few months,” Geoffrey Kendrick, Standard Chartered’s global head of digital assets research, wrote in a note, pointing to outflows from exchange-traded funds and a weaker macro-economic backdrop.
Standard Chartered lowered its year-end 2026 Bitcoin forecast to US$100,000 from US$150,000 – and from US$300,000 just months earlier – warning the original cryptocurrency could drop to US$50,000 before stabilising.
Bitcoin, which sank as low as US$60,033 last week, is down more than 45 per cent from its October peak of just over US$126,000 and has repeatedly failed to sustain rebounds, a sign that speculative demand is thinning. The broader crypto market has shed nearly US$2 trillion in value over the same stretch.
“Technically, as long as Bitcoin holds above the 200-week moving average near US$58,000, a level it successfully bounced from last Friday, there remains scope for a recovery towards resistance at US$73,000 to US$75,000,” Tony Sycamore, a market analyst at IG Australia, wrote in a note. “However, a sustained break below the critical US$60,000/US$58,000 zone would likely open the door to a deeper pullback towards the next support level in the high US$40,000s.”
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Damien Loh, chief investment officer at Ericsenz Capital, said sentiment is being impacted by concerns that sell-offs in other asset classes, such as tech stocks, “will open further downside for crypto”.
Meanwhile, Coinbase Global said that it swung to a US$667 million loss in the fourth quarter as revenue tumbled a more-than-estimated 20 per cent to US$1.8 billion, illustrating the impact of falling token prices on trading activity.
It was one of several challenges for the crypto exchange on Thursday.
Ahead of the earnings announcement, customers encountered issues buying, selling and transferring on the company’s website, forcing Coinbase to assure users that “your funds are safe” in a post on social network X before later announcing “this issue is now resolved”.
At the same time, Monness, Crespi, and Hardt downgraded Coinbase to sell, calling assumptions of a steady recovery “foolish” and “facile” given the typical length of crypto bear markets.
Coinbase shares fell for a third day, down about 8 per cent to US$141. They have tumbled 37 per cent this year. BLOOMBERG
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