Welcome to Trade Secrets — Bitcoin and Ether price predictions from top analysts, along with options data, sentiment analysis and prediction markets to determine what they can tell us about the months and years ahead.
XRP to $7.50 if “momentum sustains”; ATH by the end of August?
XRP is gearing up for a massive 160% surge by the end of 2025, predicts Shubh Varma, co-founder and CEO of Hyblock Capital.
Varma tells Magazine that XRP could hit $7.50 by the end of 2025 if the “momentum sustains.” His forecast comes after XRP reached a year-to-date high of $3.66 on July 18 but fell short of retesting its official all-time high of $3.84 from January 2018.
Over the next couple of weeks, Varma says XRP might trade within the $3.25-$3.50 range, which is approximately 12% higher than its current price of $2.85 at the time of publication.
He says the token’s “cooling off” after the recent rally, but strong buying may set it up to creep closer to its all-time highs by the end of August.
Meanwhile, crypto analyst Cryptoes says XRP needs to stay above the “make-or-break” $2.80-$2.95 support range to keep its bullish momentum.
Ether will “rip like 2021” once it taps $4,200: Crypto trader
Ether is set to go into price discovery if it breaks past $4,200, says Merlijn The Trader.
“Break $4,200 and ETH will rip like 2021,” the crypto trader said in a recent X post, pointing to the moving average convergence divergence (MACD) indicator “crossover,” which has previously led to significant price moves.
“Ethereum is setting up for a monster move,” he added.
In 2021, Ether soared over 230% between March and November, topping out at the all-time high of $4,878.
Ether briefly pushed above $4,000 in December 2024 during a post-election rally, but it hasn’t been near $4,200 since 2021.
More than a few traders believe that’s about to change. The Lord of Entry tells Magazine that Ether will break its all-time high of $4,878 by the end of October and push past $5,000 before the year’s up.
Crypto trader MilkyBull Crypto said in an X post, “Ethereum is set for a macro breakout.”
“It will spark off a huge altszn if it happens. A very critical moment for Ethereum.”
Ether’s relative strength against Bitcoin continues to rise
Despite taking a dive over the weekend, Ether is trading at $3,697 at the time of publication and remains up 44% over the past 30 days, according to Nansen.
The asset’s relative strength against Bitcoin continues to climb, up 30% over the past 30 days, according to TradingView’s ETH/BTC ratio.
Growing institutional interest in Ether is a major catalyst behind the momentum. Standard Chartered said in a recent research report that the 10 largest corporate cryptocurrency treasury companies have now bought up 1% of the total ETH supply since the beginning of June.
Over the same period, Ether-focused treasury companies have doubled the pace of investments compared to their Bitcoin-focused counterparts.
While Yellow’s executive chairman, Alexis Sirkia, was hesitant to give Magazine an Ether price prediction, he said he remains super bullish on Ethereum’s infrastructure.
“Ethereum is growing more scalable and user-friendly every day,” he tells Magazine.
“The rest of the market can chase short-term trends. I prefer to concentrate on assets that are truly building the future,” he says.
Solana set to plunge 10% as Ether institutional interest mounts
More big institutions getting into Ether could seriously hurt Solana’s price in the short term, says Derive head researcher Sean Dawson.
“ETH’s recent resurgence appears to be draining both attention and liquidity from competing L1s, particularly Solana,” Dawson tells Magazine.
Dawson pointed out that while Solana’s price is up 10% this past month, it has also dropped 25% compared to ETH, going from 0.06 ETH per SOL to 0.045.
The trend coincides with growing interest in ETH from TradFi, as treasury companies such as Bitmine and The Ether Machine continue to stack their ETH bags.
Dawson points to Solana options data for the Aug. 29 expiry, which shows a concentration of put options around as low as $145, suggesting traders are bracing for a potential 10% drop in SOL during August.
“Crypto Banter” host and trader Fefe Demeny tells Magazine he’s expecting some volatility this month but still sees Solana climbing about 50% from its current price of $161.
“I’m anticipating a quick pullback sometime in August. Under current market conditions, it’s very difficult to make accurate price predictions for the month, but if I had to, I’d say Solana could reach the $240-$260 range,” Demeny says.
Demeny expects Solana to break its all-time high of $293 by October, but he has a much gloomier take for how things end the year.
“By December, I expect to see the beginning of a major correction, possibly a 30%-50% drawdown,” he says.
Read also
Arthur Hayes says Bitcoin could drop to $100,000
Bitcoin may once again fall to the psychological $100,000 price level as the impacts of tariffs become clearer, according to BitMEX co-founder Arthur Hayes.
“US Tariff Bill coming due in 3Q,” Hayes said on Aug. 2, pointing to the disappointing non-farm payroll report — just 73,000 jobs added vs. the 100,000 estimate — as a sign the labor market is weakening, reinforcing market fears.
“No major econ is creating enough credit fast enough to boost nominal GDP,” Hayes said.
Xapo Bank head of investment Gadi Chait said Bitcoin’s consolidation after recent all-time highs comes as no surprise. “Yet again, inflationary fears have risen as tariffs and geopolitical uncertainty linger, spooking both crypto and traditional markets,” Chait said.
“In recent times, Bitcoin has proven its ability to weather turbulence inflicted by external factors, an encouraging sign of its increasing maturity. Our conviction in Bitcoin’s long-term potential still stands, undeterred by short-term price fluctuations.”
Hayes’s and Chait’s comments come as Bitcoin continues to pull back from its July 14 all-time high of $123,100, now 7% below at $114,349.
However, other analysts see the drop as just a healthy correction within a bigger uptrend.
Crypto analyst Mags said that Bitcoin’s recent price drop to $115,000 was a bullish retest of an inverse head-and-shoulders’ neckline before BTC continues its uptrend.
“It’s just a matter of time before Bitcoin price goes vertical,” Mags said in a Thursday post on X.
Meanwhile, crypto trader Kyle du Plessis tells Magazine that Bitcoin has much more upside and doesn’t think Bitcoin will top out with the usual four-year cycle this time.
Instead, he sees the late stages of the cycle playing out well into late 2025, maybe even early 2026.
Read also
Crypto traders are showing “cautious optimism”: Santiment
Crypto traders are staying cautiously bullish as Bitcoin trades further below the all-time high it reached on July 14, according to sentiment data platform Santiment.
“Overall, traders are mainly showing cautious optimism after retracing from the $123,000 all-time high two and a half weeks ago,” Santiment analyst Brian Q tells Magazine.
The dip didn’t come as a shock to Santiment analysts. Q noted that social media chatter had gotten a bit too bullish, often a warning sign that a reversal might be near.
Q shared the chart below to show the pattern of Bitcoin pulling back when social media sentiment expects it to rise, and it often rebounds when sentiment is bearish.
“Sentiment has steadily crept up as July has come to a close, and though not quite as high as we saw back on June 10, there is definitely a lean toward bullishness across social media,” Q says.
While Q says the social media sentiment signals there’s a “mild cooldown period” ahead for Bitcoin, it’s not going to be drastic:
“Those expecting a massive, sudden crash may not have as simple of a dip buy opportunity as they’re hoping for.”
According to Q, wallets holding between 10 and 10,000 BTC — which control 68.4% of the total supply — have dumped 21,114 BTC since July 15, after stacking hard from mid-March to mid-July.
“This is not a big drop by any means. But historically, when they take a pause on accumulating, prices tend to lose steam quickly,” Q explains.
What the derivatives markets are saying about Bitcoin and Ether
Onchain options protocol Derive founder Nick Forster tells Magazine that futures traders are getting slightly more bearish.
Future traders are pricing in a 36% chance of Bitcoin falling below $100,000 before September 26, up 6% from last week.
As for Ether, future traders are pricing in a 22% chance that Ether retests $2,500 before September 26, up sharply 14% from last week.
Forster says the data signals that traders are pricing in the risk of a sudden, sharp market reversal.
“It’s a clear sign the market expects a rough start to August as trade tariff tensions heat up,” Forster says.
What the prediction markets are saying about Bitcoin and Ether
Prediction markets have become more bullish over the past 30 days after Bitcoin’s July all-time highs kicked off a broader market rally.
Bitcoin reached new highs of $123,100 on July 14 and has a 59% chance of breaking that level by September 30, according to crypto prediction platform Polymarket.
Since the July Trade Secrets column, Polymarket’s odds of other major cryptocurrencies hitting new all-time highs by year-end have increased.
Solana now has a 26% chance of surpassing its previous peak of $293 by the end of 2025, up 4% from its odds last month as its price spiked 10% over the same period.
Ethereum has 48% odds of breaking its all-time high of $4,878 this year, up 26% from its odds last month, as its price spiked 40% over the same period.
Subscribe
The most engaging reads in blockchain. Delivered once a
week.
Ciaran Lyons
Ciaran Lyons is an Australian crypto journalist. He’s also a standup comedian and has been a radio and TV presenter on Triple J, SBS and The Project.
