Bitcoin could fall to $50,000 in 2026, but that level would not mark the bottom of the cycle. According to Mike McGlone, a senior macro strategist at Bloomberg, a deeper decline — potentially to $10,000 — cannot be ruled out. Info minfin.com.ua
While such a scenario may sound extreme to investors accustomed to six-figure price targets, McGlone argues that it would represent not a collapse, but a normalization after years of excess.
The Crypto Peak May Already Be Behind Us
McGlone believes that 2025 marked the peak of the current crypto cycle, with the market now entering a prolonged period of correction. In his view, today’s price levels remain distorted by years of extraordinary monetary stimulus rather than supported by long-term fundamentals.
A move below $50,000, he says, should be seen as a transition phase — a necessary unwinding of a market that benefited disproportionately from loose financial conditions.
Why $10,000 Is Not an Arbitrary Number
The $10,000 level is not a random forecast. Bitcoin traded around this range prior to 2020, before the COVID-19 pandemic triggered unprecedented fiscal spending, ultra-low interest rates, and a surge of speculative capital into risk assets.
According to McGlone, much of Bitcoin’s rally between 2020 and 2025 was driven less by organic adoption and more by excess global liquidity.
A return to $10,000, in this framework, would effectively erase the liquidity premium embedded in crypto prices over the past several years.
Bitcoin Is No Longer Alone
McGlone also points to a structural challenge facing Bitcoin: loss of uniqueness.
Gold has only a handful of direct competitors — silver, platinum, and palladium. Bitcoin, by contrast, was the first cryptocurrency in 2009, but today competes with millions of digital tokens.
This proliferation of alternatives, he argues, weakens Bitcoin’s narrative as “digital gold” and places long-term pressure on its valuation.
Liquidity Was the Fuel Behind the 2025 Rally
The sharp rally in Bitcoin during 2025, McGlone says, was largely fueled by abundant liquidity, easing financial conditions, and renewed risk appetite. As those forces reverse — through tighter policy and reduced stimulus — speculative assets are typically the first to reprice.
From that perspective, a fall toward $10,000 would not be unprecedented. Rather, it would reflect a familiar pattern in Bitcoin’s history: sharp booms followed by equally sharp busts.
Markets Have Seen This Before
Bitcoin’s volatility is well documented. In August 2024, the cryptocurrency briefly fell below $50,000, losing around 18% in a single day and nearly 20% over two days — its steepest decline since 2021.
Those moves served as a reminder that deep drawdowns are not anomalies but a defining feature of the asset class.
What This Means for Investors
The key takeaway from McGlone’s outlook is not the exact price target, but the shift in market regime. Bitcoin, he suggests, may be moving from a phase dominated by narrative and liquidity into one governed by fundamentals and capital discipline.
A decline to $10,000, while painful, would be consistent with Bitcoin’s historical cycles — and, in McGlone’s words, a “return to normal” rather than an existential failure of the asset.