Tom Lee, a well-known bitcoin bull and the only Wall Street analyst covering the cryptocurrency, has recently argued that bitcoin is set up for a massive rally going into this year’s Consensus conference, which begins May 14.
According to MarketWatch, a group of researchers from Lee’s Fundstrat Global Advisors used historical data to see how bitcoin performed leading up to and following the Consensus conference.
They found that whenever Consensus conference attendance surged, so did bitcoin’s price during and after the event. In 2017, attendance numbers doubled when compared to the previous year, and bitcoin’s price increased by 69 percent during the conference. In the following two months, the flagship cryptocurrency went up by 138 percent.
Lee and his team believe the pattern will hold. Taking into account this year’s Consensus conference is set to have over 7,000 people there, the rally could be unprecedented. In a note to clients, the analyst wrote:
“Already one of the largest crypto conferences in the world, attendance this year is up dramatically and coming at a time when Bitcoin/Crypto is down YTD. Hence, we expect the Consensus rally to be even larger than past years.”
The Consensus conference is an annual blockchain summit, in which cryptocurrency and blockchain experts discuss several pressing industry topics. As covered, Ethereum founder Vitalik Buterin won’t be attending this year’s event, as he decided to boycott it for several reasons, including the price and its organizing company’s conduct.
According to Tom Lee, potential cryptocurrency regulations are going to be discussed at the Consensus conference, something he doesn’t believe will hinder enthusiasm. “Bottom line,” he said, “we expect BTC and cryptocurrencies to behave similarly to prior years and rally during Consensus.”
Lee is a well-known bitcoin bull. As covered, he sees bitcoin hit $25,000 by midyear, and a whopping $91,000 by March 2020. The Wall Street analyst accurately predicted that cryptocurrencies would stop plummeting in April, after US taxpayers paid capital gains taxes.
At press time, bitcoin is trading at $9,110, after falling by about 2 percent in the last 24-hour period. This month, the cryptocurrency reached a high of about $9,885 but failed to break through the $10,000 resistance. If Lee’s prediction is correct and it surges by over 70 percent, it could go above $15,000.
