Ki Young Ju and Peter Brandt Share Their Predictions for Bitcoin

Despite significant accumulation by Bitcoin exchange-traded funds (ETFs) and decentralized autonomous trusts (DATs) this year, Bitcoin's price has not seen the robust retail engagement typical of previous cycles.

Key Takeaways

Short-Term Challenges: Bitcoin is currently facing obstacles in recovery due to declining stablecoin reserves.
Medium-Term Weakness: There is a noticeable reduction in on-chain capital inflows, indicating a decrease in investor interest.
Long-Term Optimism: Experienced traders remain bullish on Bitcoin’s future, predicting potential peaks in the coming years.

Renowned market analysts Ki Young Ju, CEO of CryptoQuant, and seasoned trader Peter Brandt have recently shared their latest outlooks on Bitcoin. Their insights provide important perspectives on Bitcoin's short-term, medium-term, and long-term potentials.

Current Short-Term Outlook

In the immediate future, Bitcoin may struggle to recover, as indicated by decreasing stablecoin reserves. Data from CryptoQuant highlights a steep decline in stablecoin reserves across major exchanges, with capital outflows reaching around $1.9 billion in just 30 days.

Binance, the leading platform for liquidity, typically shows how prepared investors are to engage in buying through stablecoin balances. However, recent data reveals that ERC-20 stablecoin reserves have significantly decreased on Binance and several other centralized exchanges. This trend implies that retail investors are pulling back from the market.

Analyst Darkfost observed, “This movement suggests a clear lack of investor interest in immediate market exposure. Instead of leaving their stablecoins on exchanges while waiting for the right moment, many investors have opted to withdraw their assets.”

Consequently, Bitcoin is experiencing a lack of buying pressure in the short term, restricting its potential for upward movement.

Medium-Term Predictions

Looking ahead to the medium term, Ki Young Ju pointed out that capital inflows into Bitcoin are gradually decreasing. He noted that after about 2.5 years of consistent growth, the realized cap has stalled over the past month. This measure reflects the total capitalization based on the last purchase price of Bitcoin.

Available data further illustrates that the PnL (Profit and Loss) Index Signal, which analyzes profit and loss based on all wallets' cost basis, has remained stagnant since early 2025. The indicator has started to trend downward as we approach year-end, signaling rising losses.

Ki Young Ju stated, “It might take several months for sentiment to recover.”

Long-Term Perspective

In terms of the long-term outlook, the majority of analysts convey optimism. Peter Brandt, a respected trader with a career spanning back to 1975, holds a bullish outlook on Bitcoin's future.

In a recent post on X, he mentioned that Bitcoin has seen five logarithmic parabolic advances over the past 15 years, with declines of at least 80% following each advance. He asserts that the current cycle has not yet reached its conclusion.

“I am in the process of exploring this. I have projected that the next bull market peak could occur in September 2029,” Brandt stated.

When asked about when the market might hit a bottom, Brandt did not provide a specific timeline but reiterated his prediction for a potential peak in September 2029. His projections are based on historical market behavior, suggesting that later cycles tend to extend over a longer duration, yielding smaller percentage gains compared to earlier cycles.

In summary, analysts indicate that Bitcoin may require several months to recover, and it is unlikely that a new all-time high will be seen soon.