Fundstrat’s Thomas Lee doubled his Bitcoin (Bitcoin) price target to $11,500 by the middle of 2018 - a 40 percent gain from current levels, Bloomberg reported.
Lee said a 10 percent pullback earlier this month triggered by the cancellation of an upgrade to Bitcoin’s underlying software has set the stage for the coming surge.
The November slump “cleaned up weak hands,” Lee wrote Wednesday in a note to clients that almost doubled his last forecast.
The strategist had warned earlier in the month that Bitcoin’s rally to $7,000 from $3,500 raised the likelihood for a short-term pullback.
“We no longer feel caution is warranted,” he said.
“We recommend steady buying of Bitcoin at these levels,” Lee said in the Wednesday report.
Fundstrat also boosted its price target for the Bitcoin Investment Trust, an over-the-counter security that offers investors exposure to Bitcoin. Lee predicts it will trade at $1,300 by mid-2018, up from his prior target of $800.
Bitcoin rose 1.2 percent to $8,230.12 Thursday, about $100 short of its all-time high set Tuesday after Novogratz’s comments. The most popular cryptocurrency has surged more than sevenfold since December, surpassing $8,000 for the first time this week.