Citi Slashes Crypto Targets Amid ETF Outflow Crisis

Citi has downgraded its price targets for Bitcoin and Ether in response to recent ETF outflows. The bank's analysts cut their 12-month forecast for Bitcoin to $93,000 from $110,000 and for Ether to $3,600 from $4,000.

The decision was based on the erosion of spot ETF flows and a broader tightening of financial conditions, which has stalled the institutional 'flow narrative' that dominated much of the post-approval ETF discourse. Citi's analysts noted that the inflow momentum that helped drive prices into the $70,000, $100,000 range has stalled.

The bank's downgrade is significant because it signals how the institutional sell-side is recalibrating its expectations for crypto assets. Citi is a major global institution whose research desks shape the information flow for asset managers, family offices, and multistrategy funds that have been gradually allocating to Bitcoin through ETFs.

The same macro forces causing Citi to rethink its targets are not limited to crypto. Global central banks are still threading a narrow path between inflation and growth, and speculative capital is being pulled back across risk assets. The liquidity story is now more important than the ETF story because it determines whether there is enough fresh capital to absorb the existing sell pressure.