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Tom Lee sees bitcoin finishing the year at over $150,000 and attributes the current drawdown to cyclical behavior.
Mar 4, 2025, 9:27 a.m. UTC
Tom Lee, CIO of Fundstrat, recently spoke with CNBC, suggesting that the broader market may be nearing a bottom, potentially as soon as this week.
Lee's outlook comes amid economic uncertainty as President Trump navigates his first 100 days in office. Several factors are contributing to market volatility, including the Department of Government Expenditure (DOGE) program, which imposes austerity measures that reduce public spending, and the tariff policies creating further uncertainty for businesses and investors.
Bitcoin (BTC) has experienced yet another reversal in price, filling in Friday's CME gap and currently sitting at $83,000—down over 10% this year. Meanwhile, the Nasdaq 100 has also dropped nearly 10%, with another similar decline would trigger a bear market.
Lee points to Friday’s upcoming job data as a key event that could dictate short-term market direction. If the data is worse than expected, he anticipates an initial wave of panic, but Lee believes it could also prompt the Federal Reserve to accelerate interest rate cuts.
Currently, the futures market is pricing in 75 basis points of cuts for this year, which would bring the benchmark federal funds rate to a range of 3.50%-3.75% by year-end. So far, the Fed has already implemented 100 basis points worth of cuts in this cycle.
Lee also addressed bitcoin’s struggles, noting that its recent downturn is not driven by negative news but rather by cyclical market forces. He sees a potential short-term price target of $62,000 but still see's bitcoin finishing over $150,000 by end of the year.
Disclaimer: Parts of this article were generated with the assistance from AI tools and reviewed by our editorial team to ensure accuracy and adherence to our standards. For more information, see CoinDesk’s full AI Policy.
James Van Straten
James Van Straten is a Senior Analyst at CoinDesk, specializing in Bitcoin and its interplay with the macroeconomic environment. Previously, James worked as a Research Analyst at Saidler & Co., a Swiss hedge fund, where he developed expertise in on-chain analytics. His work focuses on monitoring flows to analyze Bitcoin's role within the broader financial system. In addition to his professional endeavors, James serves as an advisor to Coinsilium, a UK publicly traded company, where he provides guidance on their Bitcoin treasury strategy. He also holds investments in Bitcoin, MicroStrategy (MSTR), and Semler Scientific (SMLR).
CoinDesk Bot
“CoinDesk Bot” indicates a generative text tool, typically an AI chatbot, contributed to the article. In each and every case, the article was edited, fact-checked and published by a human. Read more about CoinDesk's AI Policy here.
