Fundstrat's head of crypto strategy responded to "internal disagreements": They have different client positioning, but remain optimistic about BTC and ETH hitting new highs this year.

PANews reported on December 21 that Sean Farrell, Head of Cryptocurrency Strategy at Fundstrat, Tom Lee's fund, responded to questions about "differences between his market views and Tom Lee's views" by stating, "Fundstrat has multiple analysts, each with independent research frameworks and different investment timeframes, designed to meet the investment objectives of different clients. My research primarily focuses on portfolios with a high proportion of crypto assets and employs a relatively more aggressive market operation strategy."

Tom Lee's research primarily serves large asset management firms and investors who allocate 1%–5% of their assets to BTC and ETH. Such strategies require a high degree of self-discipline and a long-term perspective to grasp structural (long-term) trends in order to achieve excess returns over time. My goal is to help clients and subscribers with a high proportion of crypto assets (approximately 20% or more) to consistently outperform the market across different cycles through proactive rebalancing.

My cautious view in the first half of the year reflected risk management, not a complete bearish outlook. Current market pricing is almost perfect, but risks remain, including government shutdowns, trade volatility, uncertainty surrounding AI capital expenditures, and a change in the Federal Reserve chairman. Meanwhile, high-yield bond spreads are narrowing, and cross-asset volatility is low. Recent fund flows have also shown divergence. Bitcoin is currently in uncharted territory in terms of valuation. In the long term, ETF demand should improve as large brokerages join the fray, but in the near term, it still faces pressure from early holders selling off, miner pressure, the potential removal of MSTR from the MSCI index, and fund redemptions.

My baseline assessment is that there may be a rebound at the beginning of the year, followed by another pullback in the first half of the year, providing a more attractive opportunity for year-end positioning. If my assessment is incorrect, I prefer to wait for confirmation signals. For investors following this outlook, I still expect Bitcoin and Ethereum to challenge new all-time highs before the end of the year, thus ending the traditional four-year cycle with a shorter and smaller bear market.