Late-night cryptocurrency chaos, over 110,000 traders liquidated, Bitcoin's predicted price slashed in half

Crypto asset volatility has increased sharply over the past two days!

On January 3, Bitcoin surged and briefly traded above $90,500, then plunged in the afternoon and fell below $90,000. As of 22:50 at the time of publication, Bitcoin was back above the $90,000 mark again. Multiple major crypto assets rose collectively; Ethereum reclaimed $3,000, up more than 2%. XRP was up more than 6%, and Dogecoin was up more than 9%. According to coinglass data, in the past 24 hours, more than 110k people were liquidated.

On the news front, on the evening of January 3, according to Xinhua News Agency, U.S. President Trump said that the U.S. has successfully carried out strikes against Venezuela. Venezuelan President Maduro and his wife were “dragged out of their bedroom and taken away” in a U.S. military raid operation. The spokesperson for UN Secretary-General António Guterres said in a statement on the 3rd that Guterres was deeply shocked by the recent escalation of the situation in Venezuela, and that the military action taken by the U.S. in Venezuela that day could have worrying impacts on the region.

Bitcoin plunges nearly 30% over two months

Standard Chartered sharply cuts its forecast for Bitcoin’s long-term price

It is worth noting that, according to Caixin, as one of Wall Street’s most steadfast Bitcoin bulls, Geoff Kendrick, Global Head of Digital Assets Research at Standard Chartered, has recently sharply lowered his forecast for this crypto asset.

Standard Chartered has nearly slashed its future Bitcoin price forecast “across the board,” with the largest declines in 2026–2028. Kendrick said that Standard Chartered expects Bitcoin to rise to $150k in 2026, only half of its prior $300k target.

In early October 2025, Bitcoin once surged to about $126,000, a historic high point. Compared with that high, Bitcoin has since fallen by nearly 30%.

The most recent round of Bitcoin’s sell-off has been driven by multiple negative factors, including insufficient market liquidity, a lower risk appetite amid uncertainty over the outlook for rate cuts, and market speculation that Strategy, the largest Bitcoin corporate buyer, may be forced to sell part of its holdings.

In addition, on the news front, expectations for Federal Reserve rate cuts have strengthened again.

Barclays’ U.S. economists, in a report, said the bank maintains its expectation that the Federal Reserve will cut rates twice in 2026—each by 25 basis points in March and June. They believe that the risks around this baseline forecast are skewed toward delaying rate cuts.

David Seif, chief economist for developed markets at Nomura, recently said in an interview with a reporter from 21st Century Economic Herald that changes in the Federal Reserve in 2026 may become even more pronounced. Nomura expects that the U.S. economy in 2026 will continue to show resilience, with real GDP growth forecast at 2.4%. A easing of pressure on the labor supply and accelerated business investment led by AI will provide support for the economy. Conditions in the labor market will improve; after three years of modest increases, the unemployment rate will fall to 4.0% by the end of the year.

For the future path of the Federal Reserve’s monetary policy, Nomura expects that although inflation pressures triggered by tariffs at the end of 2025 may ease, core services inflation will keep the Fed cautious. Under a newly more dovish leadership team, the Fed is expected to cut rates once each in June and September 2026.

(Statement: The article is for reference only and does not constitute investment advice. Investors act at their own risk.)

(Editor: Wen Jing)

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                                                            Crypto assets