Tom Lee sees bitcoin surge by the summer, as cryptocurrency struggles to hold $10,000

Bitcoin found itself in a struggle to remain above $10,000 Friday, temporarily slipping below that mark even as one prominent analyst predicted the No. 1 cryptocurrency was headed for a summer bounce.

Bitcoin BTCUSD+4.88% was up 1% in recent action at $10,006.54, having traded between an intraday high of $10,293.44 and a low of $9,718.59, according to CoinDesk. The muted price action comes a day after bitcoin pushed back above the psychologically important level of $10,000 for the first time since early February.

Since the start of the year, bitcoin has lost about 26% of its value, with renewed concerns about regulation haunting cryptocurrencies. However, a noted bull for bitcoin, Tom Lee, managing partner and head of research at Fundstrat Global Advisors, has predicted that the cryptocurrency will revisit record highs by July 2018.

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In fresh research, Lee examined 22 pullbacks of more than 20% for bitcoin, finding that recoveries tend to take about 1.7 times the duration of a pullback. He said $9,000 should mark the major low for bitcoin.

“In general, we see 2018 being a strong year but we see the larger and more established blockchains growing in dominance in 2018—hence, better upside for ETH and BTC over the FS CryptoFX indices,” Lee said

Lee, a bitcoin bull, in January predicted the cryptocurrency would hit $25,000 by the end of this year, and $125,000 by 2022, according to his model for valuing of bitcoin. Lee became cautious on the cryptocurrency in October as it shot past his bullish forecast of $6,000, but then turned bullish again in November.

Lee maintains his year-end price target of $25,000, and sees it hitting $20,000 by mid-2018.

Bitcoin has also moved up as global equities have regained their footing after a sharp pullback a week ago.

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The Fundstrat analyst isn’t the only one upbeat on bitcoin.

Lee Wild, head of equity strategy at Interactive Investor, said “Bitcoin’s spectacular crash from near $20,000 to just $6,000 in less than two months is seen as a great time to pick up cheap coins,” in a client note. “Regulatory interference is finally being accepted as a sign of maturity and a positive development for this new asset class, rather than a threat,” he said.

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Elsewhere in the cryptocurrency universe, Bitcoin Cash has jumped 8.6% to $1,495.60. Ether is unchanged at $939.68, and Litecoin is up 2.4% to $228, according to research and news site CoinDesk.

It’s been a quiet day on the futures front with both contracts trading in tight ranges.

The March contract on Cboe Global Markets XBTH8+0.54% closed up 0.5% at $10,150 while the February CME Group Inc. BTCG8+0.3% contract closed up 0.2% at $10,110.