Bitcoin Drops Below $120K as Analysts Reveal What’s Next After the All‑Time High

Bitcoin’s rally has slowed for the moment after it hit a new all-time high (ATH) less than 24 hours ago, at US$123,091 (AU$188,053). BTC is currently down roughly 3% and trades at US$118,832 (AU$181,546) at the time of writing.

Bitcoin’s run over the past week, source: TradingView

Markus Thielen of 10x Research told CNBC that “simply from a statistical point of view” the rally isn’t over and could see prices of US$130k (AU$198k) plus by August/September 2025 – with 10x’s year-end target around US$140k-160k (AU$213k-244k).

One of the main reasons for the continuing bull case for BTC, according to the analyst, is that on one side, retail investors aren’t even buying yet, because “Bitcoin seems to be too expensive”.

Bitcoin Receives Lots of Corporate Love

On the other hand, companies are buying up Bitcoin at record-breaking pace:

We have of course a lot of corporates, a lot of institutional investors buying and the Bitcoin ETFs, they have bought $15 billion over the last 6 to 8 weeks.

Markus Thielen, 10x Research

This means much of the supply is leaving exchanges, creating a shortage. Thielen estimates that only “three crypto exchanges have more than 150,000 BTC left”.

Related: Tokenised RWAs: The Next-Gen ETFs Opening Private Markets to All

The analyst said that ETFs have been “buying relentlessly” even during downturns. As Crypto News Australia reported, the US spot Bitcoin ETFs now hold over 6% of the total BTC supply.

Another driving factor for the Bitcoin price is Trump’s “Big Beautiful Bill”, which has led to a debt-ceiling increase and is estimated to add over US$3 trillion (AU$4.58 trillion) to US debt over the next decade.

Steve Grasso, CEO of Grasso Global, agrees with Thielen’s sentiment, saying that BTC is “going much, much higher from here”.

What if BTC Reaches Gold’s Market Cap?

Speaking on CNBC’s Fast Money, Grasso said that, due to low BTC allocations currently by corporations, central banks and retail investors, Bitcoin’s market cap could come close to that of gold:

Look at […] the market cap of Bitcoin, that’s around 2 trillion, let’s say. Look at the market cap of gold, that’s around 20 trillion.

Steve Grasso, Grasso Global

He explained that even closing half of the gap would be hugely bullish:

Maybe it doesn’t have to be gold, but if it closes the gap to 50%, you’re looking at $500,000 per Bitcoin.

Steve Grasso, Grasso Global

One potential issue that could hold back Bitcoin and the broader crypto market is a hawkish US Federal Reserve, which “might be hiking interest rates because of tariffs,” Thielen said.

While he quickly added that they don’t see the case for this, others are more sceptical. According to Bloomberg, most economists expect higher inflation numbers over the next few months as companies begin to pass on the costs of Trump’s tariffs to US consumers.

Related: BoE’s Andrew Bailey Hits the Brakes on Bank-Issued Stablecoins, Bets on Tokenised Deposits