Fundstrat’s Tom Lee reiterated his $250,000 Bitcoin goal whereas cautioning that 2026 may very well be a “jagged” yr for crypto adoption and a turbulent one for broader threat belongings, framing any main pullback as a shopping for window reasonably than a sign to de-risk.
Talking on The Grasp Investor Podcast with Wilfred Frost in an interview launched Jan. 20, Lee mentioned he expects 2026 to in the end “appear to be a continuation of the bull market that began in 2022,” however argued markets should first digest a number of transitions that might ship a drawdown massive sufficient to “really feel like a bear market.”
$250,000 Bitcoin Name Comes With A 2026 Warning
Lee pointed to what he described as a “new Fed” dynamic, arguing markets are likely to “check” a brand new chair and that the sequencing of identification, affirmation, and response can catalyze a correction. He additionally warned that the White Home might turn into “extra deliberate in selecting winners and losers,” increasing the set of sectors, industries, and even international locations “within the bullseye,” which he mentioned is already seen in gold’s power.
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A 3rd friction level, in his telling, is AI positioning: the market continues to be calibrating “how a lot is priced into AI,” from vitality must data-center capability, and that uncertainty might linger till different narratives take the baton.
Pressed on magnitude, Lee mentioned on the subject of the S&P 500, the drawdown “may very well be 10%,” but additionally “may very well be 15% or 20%,” probably producing a “spherical journey from the beginning of the yr,” earlier than ending 2026 sturdy. He added that his institutional purchasers didn’t seem aggressively positioned but, and flagged leverage as a inform: margin debt is at an all-time excessive, he mentioned, however up 39% year-over-year—beneath the 60% tempo he associates with native market peaks.
For crypto, Lee leaned on a market-structure clarification for why gold outperformed: he mentioned crypto tracked gold till Oct. 10, when the market suffered what he known as “the only largest deleveraging occasion within the historical past of crypto,” “larger than what occurred in November 2022 round FTX.”
After that, he mentioned, Bitcoin fell greater than 35% and Ethereum nearly 50%, breaking the linkage. “Crypto has periodic deleveraging occasions,” Lee mentioned. “It actually impairs the market makers and the market makers are primarily the central financial institution of crypto. So most of the market makers I’d say perhaps half received worn out on October tenth.”
That fragility, he argued, doesn’t negate the “digital gold” framing a lot because it limits who treats it that means as we speak. “Bitcoin is digital gold,” Lee mentioned, however added that the set of buyers who purchase that thesis “is just not the identical universe that owns gold.”
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Over time, Lee expects the possession base to broaden, although not easily. “Crypto nonetheless has a, I feel, future adoption curve that’s increased than gold as a result of extra individuals personal gold than personal crypto,” he mentioned. “However the path to getting that adoption fee increased goes to be very jagged. And I feel 2026 will probably be a very necessary check as a result of if Bitcoin makes a brand new all-time excessive, we all know that that deleveraging occasion is behind us.”
Inside that framework, Lee reiterated his high-conviction upside name: “We expect Bitcoin will make a brand new excessive this yr,” he mentioned, confirming a $250,000 goal. He tied the thesis to rising “usefulness” of crypto, banks recognizing blockchain settlement and finality, and the emergence of natively crypto-scaled monetary fashions.
Lee cited Tether as a proof level, claiming it’s anticipated to generate almost $20 billion in 2026 earnings with roughly 300 workers, and argued that the revenue profile illustrates why blockchain-based finance can look structurally totally different from legacy banking.
Lee closed with recommendation that deliberately cuts in opposition to short-horizon reflexes. “Making an attempt to time the market makes you an enemy of your future efficiency,” he mentioned. “As a lot as I’m warning about 2026 and the potential for plenty of turbulence, they need to view the pullback as an opportunity to purchase, not the pullback as an opportunity to promote.”
At press time, Bitcoin traded at $89,287.
Featured picture created with DALL.E, chart from TradingView.com
