Standard Chartered Suggests Bitcoin (BTC) Price Target of $120K for Q2 Might Be Too Cautious.

Bitcoin (BTC) is on the verge of attaining a new all-time high, driven primarily by investment activities, as reported by Standard Chartered (STAN).

In the last three weeks, U.S. spot bitcoin exchange-traded funds (ETFs) have experienced significant inflows totaling $5.3 billion, according to an email from the investment bank on Thursday.

After accounting for hedge fund basis trades, the net inflow is projected to exceed $4 billion. This basis trading technique capitalizes on the price disparity between the spot and futures markets for bitcoin.

MicroStrategy (MSTR) has increased its holdings to 555,450 BTC, which is approximately 2.6% of the total capped supply of 21 million BTC. The company plans to raise $84 billion to further invest in bitcoin, potentially increasing its holdings to over 6%, as highlighted by Geoff Kendrick, the digital assets research lead at Standard Chartered.

A forthcoming set of 13F filings may provide further insights into institutional interest, according to Standard Chartered. The sovereign fund of Abu Dhabi has already invested in BlackRock’s bitcoin ETF (IBIT), while both the Swiss National Bank and Norges Bank have reported positions in MSTR.

This week, New Hampshire became the first U.S. state to adopt a Strategic Bitcoin Reserve bill, indicating a trend toward increased regulatory alignment, as suggested in the report.

Given these factors, the bank posits that its second-quarter bitcoin target of $120,000 may be too conservative, referring back to earlier projections.

Standard Chartered has set a year-end price target for bitcoin at $200,000.

Currently, the market price for the leading cryptocurrency is hovering around $101,000.