Speaking to CNBC on Tuesday, Lee declared that he was still bullish towards Bitcoin. The previous week, the Fundstrat co-founder backed down from his $25,000 forecast to arrive at a new $15,000 price prediction.
Tom Lee is standing by his recent $15,000 price prediction despite the current plummeting price of Bitcoin. The Fundstrat chief also said the selloff of tech stocks might be playing a role in the cryptocurrency market downturn.
Despite the current BTC bloodbath, Lee remains unfazed, sticking to his $15,000 end of year price target. With the top-ranked cryptocurrency trading at circa $4,700 as at press time, BTC would have to rally by more than 200 percent to achieve that amount.
Bitcoin Fair Value is $7,000
While refusing to back down from his optimism, Lee did, however, concede that the current situation is cause for reflection. Commenting on the matter, he said:
Days like this, it does make me wonder. This past few days has definitely been a negative development.
To get from the present slump to a significant rally before the close of 2018, the Fundstrat chief expects institutional interest and more robust regulations to play a role. Lee also added to the list of potential reasons for the massive price crash, blaming the selloffs of tech stocks in the mainstream market.
Price Briefly Tests $4,800 – Bounce on the Way?
For Bitcoin, Tuesday began with a continuation of Monday’s decline which saw the price fall briefly to circa $4,200. The start of trading in the U.S. seemed to coincide with a significant positive candle at 3 PM UTC with the top-ranked cryptocurrency gaining $300 to go above $4,800 briefly.
However, the mini-rally couldn’t hold above this point, with a slight pullback bringing the price to $4,700. BTC is down by more than seven percent on Tuesday, but its market capitalization is back at the $80 million region. Presently, it is unclear whether the run to $4,800 was a price bounce or merely a minor short squeeze.
Cryptocurrency Rout Continues
For the rest of the market, the situation is hardly any better. Bitcoin Cash is the biggest loser in the top-ten-coins arena, dropping more than 30 percent over the last 24-hour trading period. The 4th-ranked coin appears in danger of losing its spot to 5th-ranked Stellar.
Ethereum’s slide continues for another day. The 3rd-ranked coin now trails XRP (in 2nd-place) by almost $4 billion in market capitalization. On the whole, between Monday and Tuesday, the total cryptocurrency market capitalization shrunk by another $25 billion to leave its present value at $154.4 billion.
