Standard Chartered forecasts for 2023: What is the future of mark

Photo - Standard Chartered forecasts for 2023: What is the future of mark
From the start of December, the biggest analytical companies and financial groups are beginning to publish their predictions for the next year. The chief strategist of Standard Chartered tried to predict the future of markets and crypto in 2023.
Analysts of the multinational banking group Standard Chartered, headquartered in London, believe that the bankruptcy of FTX and the possible collapse of other crypto platforms are forming a negative scenario for the crypto market, which can only intensify in 2023.
One of the main offices of Standard Chartered in Hong Kong

One of the main offices of Standard Chartered in Hong Kong

According to Standard Chartered chief strategist and head of market research Eric Robertsen, the price of Bitcoin may drop to $5000. 

“The financial-market surprises of 2023” by Eric Robertsen

In a recently published analyst note for investors titled “The financial-market surprises of 2023”, Eric Robertsen predicts a further decline in BTC price amid rising interest in physical gold. 
Eric Robertsen

Eric Robertsen

Eric outlined possible (mostly negative) scenarios for all markets in 2023. This scenario could play out as a result of continued interest rate rise through 2022, further bankruptcies of crypto companies, and predominantly negative sentiment among institutional investors. 

He believes that everything signals about significant dominance of bearish sentiment in 2023 as well. He predicts further BTC selloff, which will cause another 70% price drop. Meanwhile, Robertsen thinks that 2023 will be a good year for the price of gold, which he predicts may increase by 30% to $2,250 an ounce.

The analyst notes the profitability decline of many tech giants, which was accompanied by a decrease in their share prices. He also notes falling interest in Bitcoin and overall significant losses in the crypto market. Among Robertsen’s other predictions for the coming year is the plunge of the price of oil, a collapse of food prices, and even the possible impeachment of US President Joe Biden.

Experts think that such forecasts on new year's eve should not be taken seriously because they have little chance to come true. You may read them as some analyst's personal opinion, which has a very low probability to become a reality. 

At the same time, Standard Chartered analysts believe that tech companies' stock prices will fall even lower in the next year, and many crypto trading and NFT platforms will go bankrupt. In addition, crypto startups will face a lack of funding and a decrease in investments. 

It is worth mentioning that Standard Chartered analysts were not always so pessimistic. Recently, in September, they published a pretty optimistic prediction for the crypto industry, in which they wrote that Ethereum could overtake Bitcoin in terms of market capitalization.

The last months of 2022 were too rough for the crypto market. The collapse of Sam Bankman-Fried's FTX and the hedge fund Alameda Research shook the entire industry and negatively affected the investors' sentiment.

The FTX bankruptcy already led to significant image and financial losses for many companies and caused the domino effect. Crypto lending platform BlockFi has also filed for bankruptcy. Most of its reserves were held at FTX and Alameda, which failed to fulfill their obligations.

Standard Chartered prediction is not the only bearish forecast for the crypto market. Last week, prominent investor Mark Mobius told CNBC that he expects Bitcoin to drop to $10,000 in 2023 because of increasing rates and the Federal Reserve's tight monetary policy. It is up to each person to decide, though, whether to listen to an 86-year-old old-school pensioner raised on the values of Wall Street.

Does anyone see the light at the end of the tunnel?

Meanwhile, crypto enthusiasts have opposed views on the market's future. Famous venture capitalist Tim Draper believes that the price of Bitcoin may reach $250,000 next year. He argues that after FTX collapse there will be a spike of interest in truly decentralized assets like Bitcoin, and DEXs, which, unlike CEXs, provide their users with non-custodial service (they do not store investors' assets on their platform).

According to Cointelegraph, macro market analyst Henrik Zeberg also predicts a gradual increase of BTC price above $100,000 over the next year as well as a rise of some other risky assets. 

Hedge fund manager Mark Yusko shares a bullish sentiment and believes that in the Q2 of 2022 there will be a significant increase in the price of Bitcoin because the entire crypto market will begin to accumulate BTC in anticipation of the next reward halving.