Bitcoin (BTC) may reach new all-time highs by the end of next year, but crypto investors should brace themselves for a “chopfest” in the meantime, according to veteran trader and analyst Peter Brandt. 

In an Oct. 26 post on X (formerly Twitter), Brandt told his 660,000 followers that Bitcoin had likely already bottomed in Nov. 2022 and that the cryptocurrency is on track to notch new highs by the third quarter of 2024.

Still, Brandt erred slightly on the side of caution with a disclaimer, saying that the future is never certain and that markets will “always” surprise.

When an X user asked Brandt for his thoughts on Chainlink (LINK), he didn’t mince words with his response:

“I stick with BTC and don’t get distracted by pretenders.”

Brandt — who has been a proprietary trader since 1975 — explained that he’d been using the aforementioned blueprint for nearly two years.

He added in a later post that his favorite chart for Bitcoin price movement is the weekly Renko graph, which — in his view — alleviates many “fake moves” and had only delivered five miscues in the past five years.

After months of largely sideways price action, Bitcoin recently experienced significant upwards price momentum. Many have tipped Bitcoin’s outsized performance in recent months due to participants watching closely as spot Bitcoin exchange traded funds (ETFs) inch closer to potential approval.

Related: BlackRock’s iShares Bitcoin ETF mysteriously disappears from — then reappears on — DTCC site

On Oct. 23, Bitcoin staged its largest single day rally in over a year, briefly surging over the $35,000 mark as traders frenzied over reports that Blackrock’s iShares Bitcoin ETF — IBTC — had been listed on the DTCC website.

While a spot Bitcoin ETF approval is in no way guaranteed, leading Bloomberg ETF analysts James Seyffart and Eric Balchunas say that an approval grows more likely, predicting a 90% chance of an approval by Jan. 10, 2024.

Meanwhile, a senior executive from global consulting firm Ernst & Young, Paul Brody says there is massive institutional interest for Bitcoin sitting on the sidelines, awaiting a spot ETF approval as a trigger to buy in.

Magazine: How to protect your crypto in a volatile market — Bitcoin OGs and experts weigh in

source