Standard Chartered: MicroStrategy May Buy 320 or 3,200 BTC

Standard Chartered’s digital assets research team says MicroStrategy sold 32 BTC this week and could soon announce a larger purchase of either 320 BTC or 3,200 BTC. The bank based the projection on the company’s past pattern of selling small amounts then quickly re-accumulating.

Geoffrey Kendrick, Global Head of Digital Assets Research at Standard Chartered, pointed to MicroStrategy’s Dec. 22, 2022 sale of 704 BTC for tax reasons and the firm’s purchase of 810 BTC two days later as a similar sequence. Kendrick wrote that he expects “the buying following the selling will be more aggressive – I think either 10x (+ 320 BTC) or 100x (+3200 BTC).” A 320 BTC purchase would be ten times the recent disposal; 3,200 BTC would be 100 times larger.

MicroStrategy Executive Chairman Michael Saylor posted “A Good Time to Add More Dots” alongside the company’s bitcoin tracker after the small sale. The company continues to report a holding of 843,706 BTC in its treasury.

Standard Chartered described the recent sell-off as painful but not a break with its longer-term outlook. The bank noted that bitcoin prices held above roughly $59,100, with short-term charts showing oversold conditions and immediate resistance around $63,000 to $64,000. The research team also reported that about $1.5 billion of BTC futures positions were liquidated in the recent decline, a scale similar to liquidation waves seen in late January and early February.

The bank highlighted spot bitcoin ETF flows and derivatives activity as factors limiting further selling pressure. Standard Chartered reported ETF holdings rose from about 682,000 BTC before slipping back to roughly 674,000 BTC, leaving overall ETF exposure broadly unchanged. With ETF allocation steady and leverage reduced by liquidations, the bank said additional sources of downside may be harder to find.

Standard Chartered reiterated bullish longer-term price paths while trimming some near-term targets. The bank projects bitcoin at $100,000 by the end of 2026 and $500,000 by 2030, and ether at $4,000 by end-2026 and $40,000 by 2030. Kendrick wrote, “I think when we look back at the end of 2026 with BTC at $100K and ETH at $4K we will say this was the buying zone we all wanted.” The bank also flagged scenarios in which bitcoin could move toward about $50,000 and ether toward roughly $1,400 in the short term.

Market participants are awaiting MicroStrategy’s next public disclosure to determine whether the company will be a net buyer or seller in the near term.