With bitcoin trading near $80,000 and 66 days remaining in 2026, most major bank price targets set at the start of the year now require gains of 50% or more to be achieved.
Several Wall Street firms have already revised their forecasts downward, though not always publicly. Citi cut its 12-month bitcoin target twice during 2026, first from $143,000 to $112,000, then to $82,000 in July. The bank also reduced its assumption for net exchange-traded fund inflows to zero from a previous $10 billion projection.
Standard Chartered analyst Geoffrey Kendrick lowered the bank's year-end target to $100,000 from an initial $150,000 forecast. Bernstein maintained its $150,000 call but moved the timeline to mid-2027, revising its end-of-2026 target to $125,000.
Year-end forecasts now range widely. Coinmarketcap's head of research Alice Liu expects bitcoin to end 2026 between $85,000 and $92,000. Standard Chartered projects $100,000. Bernstein's revised base case stands at $125,000. Some analysts, including Tom Lee, maintain more bullish positions, suggesting bitcoin could trade between $150,000 and $200,000 by year-end.
The required price movements from current levels tell the story: reaching $92,000 requires a 15% gain, $100,000 needs a 25% increase, $125,000 demands a 56% rally, $150,000 requires an 87% surge, and $200,000 would need a 150% jump.
Bitcoin's recent price action has added pressure to bullish forecasts, with the cryptocurrency dropping to $79,146 over the weekend. Spot bitcoin ETFs posted their largest outflow since June, signaling investor caution heading into a Federal Reserve decision.
