Geoff Kendrick, the Global Head of Digital Asset Research at Standard Chartered Bank, stated that Bitcoin could approach its historical high of $126,000 by the end of the year, with a related recovery potentially accelerating after October 6. He remarked, “For the first time this year, there is a risk that my prediction of $100,000 by the end of the year may be too low.”

Kendrick pointed out that the recent rise has been primarily driven by short liquidations, but inflows into Bitcoin spot ETFs have also begun to recover. The current open interest is low, which may leave room for more investors to re-enter the market as prices rise.

In February of this year, Kendrick had lowered Standard Chartered’s Bitcoin year-end target from $150,000 to $100,000 and the Ethereum target from $7,500 to $4,000. At that time, he expected Bitcoin to drop to around $50,000 and Ethereum to around $1,400, before recovering over the remainder of the year.