Experts predict: Will Bitcoin (BTC) reach $40,000 or fall to $26,000?

As the crypto market anticipates another crucial rate hike decision from the US Federal Reserve, amid a looming banking crisis and debt ceiling concerns, Bitcoin and Ethereum continue to gain momentum. The Federal Reserve is expected to raise interest rates by 25 basis points after its monetary policy meeting on Wednesday, raising lending rates to between 5% and 5.25%.

Hawkish pause could affect the crypto market

Former president of the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas, Robert Kaplan, suggests that the US central bank should consider a “hawkish pause” in its aggressive rate hike campaign while maintaining a tightening stance. Kaplan warns that the banking crisis may have just begun as shares of US regional lenders fell sharply on Tuesday.

JPMorgan’s market strategist, Tai Hui, agrees that the economy is gradually slowing and recommends a 25 basis point rate hike followed by a pause. He cites the Reserve Bank of Australia’s rate hike yesterday after pausing last month and predicts rate cuts later this year, with the Fed aiming to bring inflation to its target rate by 2024.

Long-term investment perspective on Bitcoin

Cryptoanalyst Miles Deutscher emphasizes a long-term investment perspective on Bitcoin, comparing it to gold and seeing it as a “long-term bet on the degradation of fiat for myself and future generations.” While Deutscher uses a portion of his Bitcoin to trade in and out of altcoins versus Bitcoin pairs, he keeps most of his Bitcoin in long-term cold storage.

Bitcoin’s Potential Path to $40,000

Pseudonymous crypto strategist Kaleo believes Bitcoin may first experience a sell-off event before rising towards $40,000. According to Kaleo, Bitcoin will likely retest support around $25,000 before resuming its bullish trend.

Analyzing lower timeframes, Kaleo observes that Bitcoin has already breached the diagonal support that allowed it to rise from roughly $19,000 in March to over $30,000 last month. “Support broke, low timeframe structure looks weak. Lower before higher makes sense,” he says.

Cryptoanalyst Michale van de Poppe also weighs in on Bitcoin’s trajectory, saying the uptrend isn’t over yet, and the top could be between $38,000 and $42,000. He expects altcoins to gain strength when there is confidence in the market, probably 1-2 months from now after Bitcoin breaks the $30,000 mark. At the time of writing, Bitcoin is valued at $28,195.