JPMorgan Predicts Bitcoin Rebound to $170K as Perp Market Selling Pressure Ends

Analysts at JPMorgan have predicted that Bitcoin could surge as high as $170,000 in the next 6 to 12 months. This comes as the selling pressure in the Perpetual market is stabilizing.

JPMorgan Sees Bitcoin Rally as Derivatives Market Stabilizes

In the latest research, the firm’s strategist Nikolaos Panigirtzoglou and his team noted that the worst of the selling pressure in the coin’s perpetual futures market seems to be over. They also noticed that the open interest in BTC’s perpetual contracts has returned to normal.

The report emphasized that perpetual futures remain a major instrument to monitor for the current market cycle. “The message from recent stabilization is that deleveraging in perpetual futures is largely behind us,” the team wrote, signaling a possible shift from correction to accumulation.

The bank’s $170,000 target is based on a comparative model that puts the crypto on the same footing as gold. Bitcoin’s current valuation is significantly below its “fair value” when risk-adjusted against gold.

Their model presumes that the token requires about 1.8 times as much risk capital as gold. With private investment in gold totaling about $6.2 trillion, for the coin’s market capitalization to catch up, it would have to grow about two-thirds from its current $2.1 trillion. That increase would imply a price for BTC near $170,000.

“Bitcoin’s volatility-adjusted fair value is roughly $68,000 above its current level,” the analysts explained. They also added that this “mechanical exercise” suggests substantial upside potential within the next 6–12 months.

This latest projection comes after an earlier report from JPMorgan in October. They set the coin’s potential value at $165,000 back then.

JPMorgan Expands Institutional Access to Crypto

In a related development, JPMorgan announced plans to permit its institutional clients to use BTC and ETH as collateral for loans. The move follows a similar trend by other Wall Street firms such as BlackRock, Goldman Sachs, and Morgan Stanley.

Yet, despite all of this bullishness, Bitcoin struggles to hold above $103,000 since the beginning of November, with over $2 billion of spot ETF outflows making for one of the longest redemption sprees in ETFs this year. 

JPMorgan, however, insists that in perpetual futures, the sell-off phase is all but finished, which provides room for fresh buying momentum to kick in.