Bitcoin shed 14% in seven days, sliding to levels not seen since February, as a combination of institutional outflows, demonetization, geopolitical pressures, and surprise selling from Strategy rattled digital asset markets.
However, Standard Chartered’s global head of digital research, Geoff Kendrick, told clients that the bear market may be at an end – and that the downside is “about to set in.”
“I think when we look back at the end of 2026 with BTC at $100k… we will say that this was the buying position we all wanted,” he said. he wrote.
Bitcoin to sell around $63,739 on Wednesday, down from a 24-hour high of $67,416.50, after touching a low near $61,463 – the first time it has breached that level since the February crash. The decline put BTC about 51% below its all-time low of $126,277, which was set in October 2025.
The the trigger The broken market confidence came from Monday’s SEC filing. Strategy disclosed the sale of 32 Bitcoins between May 26 and May 31, generating approximately $2.5 million at an average price of $77,135 per coin.
The deal represented the company’s first reduction in its Bitcoin holdings in years – a relief to co-founder Michael Saylor’s. well known “don’t sell” stance . The stock was issued to support a stake in Strategy’s preferred stock STRC, which holds an 11.5% stake.
The market reaction was sharp. Bitcoin fell below $72,000 on the same day as the SEC filing. Shares of Strategy fell nearly 6%, and shares of STRC traded at around $94.
US spot Bitcoin ETFs are drawing the 13th consecutive day of net outflows – the longest streak since the beginning of 2024. Total withdrawals reached about $3.45 billion across the sector. The week ending May 29 alone saw $1.42 billion in withdrawals, the third largest weekly withdrawal on record.
In the full month of May, ETF outflows totaled $2.30 billion, making it the worst month of 2026.
Three columns of Kendrick bitcoin
Based on this, Kendrick gave three reasons why he believes the market is near the bottom.
First, the actions of the Strategy in 2022 provide an example. When the company last traded Bitcoin in December of that year, it bought more than it sold two days later. Kendrick said that he expects the same pattern to repeat – with the opportunity to buy up to 100 times 32 BTC sold.
A definite buy from next Monday, in his opinion, will act as a signal that the decline has entered.
Second, the ETF space has been doing better than feared. The cumulative total since its inception is still $54.2 billion – where it stood at the beginning of the year. The number of BTC held by the 11 US-listed currencies stands at about 674,000 BTC, down from a peak of around 682,000 but unchanged on the note.
“This tells me that ETFs are much stronger than I feared in February,” Kendrick said.
Third, the pool of extensions available for resolution is smaller than it used to be. Bitcoin futures bets worth $1.5 billion were settled by the exchange during the trading period, a figure consistent with January.
With BTC already active until 2026, the risk of a forced sale is reduced.
Macro Headwinds Persist
Kendrick’s long-term goal remains $100,000 per Bitcoin by the end of the year.
