Standard Chartered sees Bitcoin bottom after sell-off
Bitcoin fell sharply over seven days as institutional outflows, leveraged liquidations, geopolitical pressure, and a surprise sale by Strategy weighed on digital asset markets.
The token dropped 14 per cent during the period and slipped to levels not seen since February.
Standard Chartered’s global head of digital assets research, Geoff Kendrick, told clients that the latest bear market phase may now be close to ending.
"I think when we look back at the end of 2026 with BTC at $100k… we will say this was the buying zone we all wanted,"
Geoff Kendrick said.
Bitcoin traded near $63,739 on Wednesday after falling from a 24-hour high of $67,416.50.
The token also touched an intraday low near $61,463, marking its first break below that area since the February crash.
The decline left Bitcoin about 51 per cent below its all-time high of $126,277, which it reached in October 2025.
Market sentiment weakened after Strategy disclosed in a Monday SEC filing that it sold 32 Bitcoin between 26 May and 31 May.
The company raised about $2.5 million from the sale at an average price of $77,135 per Bitcoin.
The transaction marked Strategy’s first net reduction of its Bitcoin holdings in years.
The move also broke from co-founder Michael Saylor’s long-standing public stance that the company would avoid selling Bitcoin.
Strategy carried out the sale to fund dividend obligations linked to its STRC preferred shares.
The STRC preferred shares carry an annual variable dividend of 11.5 per cent.
Bitcoin fell below $72,000 on the same day the SEC filing became public.
Strategy’s stock also dropped nearly 6 per cent, while STRC shares traded around $94.
US spot Bitcoin ETFs added further pressure as investors continued to withdraw money from the products.
The funds recorded 13 straight days of net outflows, marking their longest outflow streak since launching in early 2024.
Total withdrawals reached about $3.45 billion across the outflow period.
The week ending 29 May recorded $1.42 billion in net outflows, making it the third-largest weekly withdrawal on record.
Spot Bitcoin ETF outflows reached $2.30 billion for the full month of May, making it the weakest month of 2026.
Kendrick said three factors now support his view that Bitcoin may be close to a market floor.
The first factor came from Strategy’s previous behaviour during the 2022 downturn.
Kendrick noted that Strategy last sold Bitcoin in December 2022 before buying back more than it sold two days later.
He said a similar pattern could return if Strategy buys more Bitcoin after the latest sale.
Kendrick said a confirmed purchase as early as next Monday could offer an early signal that the low is forming.
He suggested that Strategy could potentially buy back up to 100 times the 32 Bitcoin it recently sold.
The second factor came from the relative strength of spot Bitcoin ETF holdings despite the recent withdrawals.
Kendrick said cumulative net inflows since launch remain at $54.2 billion, close to where they stood earlier in the year.
The 11 US-listed spot Bitcoin funds now hold about 674,000 Bitcoin.
That figure is down from a peak near 682,000 Bitcoin but remains broadly stable in structural terms.
"This tells me that ETF holdings are more structurally strong than I had feared in February,"
Geoff Kendrick noted.
The third factor came from a smaller pool of leveraged long positions available for further liquidation.
Exchanges liquidated about $1.5 billion in Bitcoin futures bets during the current sell-off.
Kendrick said that figure remained in line with January’s liquidation levels.
He added that forced selling risk has eased because Bitcoin had already underperformed equities through 2026.
Despite the pressure, Kendrick maintained his long-term Bitcoin target of $100,000 by year-end.
The outlook remains tied to whether ETF flows stabilise, Strategy resumes buying, and forced selling continues to ease.
At the time of reporting, Bitcoin price was $64,185.85.