BitMine’s chair, Tom Lee, has seemingly toned down his previously promoted forecast for Bitcoin to hit $250,000 by the year’s end, expressing only a ‘maybe’ regarding the cryptocurrency’s ascent back to its October all-time high of $125,100.

“I think it’s still very likely that Bitcoin is going to be above $100,000 before year-end, and maybe even to a new high,” Lee said during an interview with CNBC on Wednesday.

Previously, this marked the first occasion where Lee has publicly adjusted his $250,000 year-end target since he first proposed it in early 2024 and maintained it up until early October.

Lee’s forecast had been one of the most optimistic, while other crypto executives, such as Galaxy Digital’s CEO Mike Novogratz, cautioned that for Bitcoin to reach that mark, “crazy stuff” would be needed.

Bitcoin downtrend Bitcoin is down 1.85% over the past 12 months. Source: CoinMarketCap

Notably, Lee asserts that some of Bitcoin’s most significant days may still be on the horizon before larger targets in 2025 are realized.

“I still think some of those best days are going to happen before year-end,” he emphasized, with only 35 days left until the year concludes.

Bitcoin holders will need to keep guessing, says exec

Lee highlighted Bitcoin’s pattern of achieving the majority of its growth during a limited number of trading days each year, pointing out that the asset generally “makes its move” within just ten days of trading annually.

This sentiment is widely echoed among industry insiders. Bitwise’s CEO Hunter Horsley remarked in a February 2024 post that missing out on Bitcoin’s top 10 days historically means missing almost all of its overall returns.

Bitcoin price history Source: PlanC

In 2024, Bitcoin’s strongest ten days delivered a cumulative return of 52%, while for the remaining 355 days, the average return dipped to -15%.

Bitcoin has faced a decline since October 10, pressured by a $19 billion liquidation across the crypto market that followed a 100% US tariff on Chinese goods announced by President Trump.

Just recently, it managed to regain the $90,000 mark after staying below that for six days.

This trend persists despite November historically being the strongest month for Bitcoin since 2013, as noted by CoinGlass.

Meanwhile, economist Timothy Peterson speculated that Bitcoin’s low point may have already been reached, or could materialize within this week.

Lee has been hit and miss with his Bitcoin predictions

Should Bitcoin fall short of Lee’s projections, it wouldn’t be an unfamiliar occurrence regarding his forecasts. In January 2018, Lee suggested Bitcoin might spike to $125,000 by 2022, but it took an additional three years, finally reaching that milestone this past October.

However, Lee has also made some accurate predictions. In July 2017, he indicated that Bitcoin might hit $20,000 by 2022, with a bullish scenario suggesting growth to $55,000 within the same timeframe.

Bitcoin ultimately met the $20,000 mark in December 2020 and jumped to $55,000 in March 2021, according to CoinMarketCap.