Real Vision Chief Crypto Analyst Jamie Coutts Has Sounded a Stark Warning for Bitcoin in the Months Ahead

Citing his new Bitcoin Derivatives Risk Score (DRS) model, Coutts contends the leading cryptocurrency’s price faces one of two sharp outcomes

Real Vision Chief Crypto Analyst Jamie Coutts has issued a stark warning for Bitcoin in the months ahead, as his new Bitcoin Derivatives Risk (DRS) model predicts two stark outcomes for the cryptocurrency’s price.

As Coutts, known for his keen macroeconomic observations, highlights in commentary shared via X (formerly Twitter), his "first pass" at the DRS model, which integrates macroeconomic variables like global liquidity and risk appetite, indicates that the market's most recent instance of "Cat 5 euphoria"—which occurred in Q1 2024 and was later noted by Coutts himself (in February 2024)—has been followed by a pullback of only around 30%.

This, Coutts says, stands in stark contrast to a comparable episode in 2019, which saw a 50% decline—or 70% if the COVID shock is accounted for. However, Coutts maintains that 2019 provides a better barometer for the present market conditions than 2021.

The reason, he explains, is that the 2019 rally occurred prior to a major global liquidity expansion, which began in March 2020 with the COVID crisis. By 2021, Bitcoin had already appreciated 12x off its lows while global liquidity expanded by 30%, presenting a vastly different macro environment.

Assessing the market's present risk level, Coutts points out that Bitcoin's DRS metric has slid into the "low-risk quantile," a zone which Coutts says offers minimal predictive power for future prices.

“So, where are we now? Bitcoin's DRS is in the low-risk quantile—where predictive power is low. If Bitcoin has peaked, we should expect a brutal bleed lower. But the probability of that outcome is low, and the possibilities of a rebound remain high, in my view.”

Coutts went on to highlight that global liquidity may yet trigger another Bitcoin rally. According to his analysis, an upcoming inflection point in global liquidity—necessitated by the need to stimulate heavily indebted economies—will likely fuel the derivatives market, which Coutts calculates to be roughly four times bigger than the spot market.

“That's not my outlook though. Global liquidity is ready to inflect that will re-invigorate the derivatives market (4x Spot), potentially jettisoning Bitcoin to new ATHs by May (or end of Q2 for extra padding).’

Another key finding from Coutts' analysis is that the Global Liquidity Index has been contracting for an unprecedented period of time. As Coutts' data shows, this downturn in global liquidity began in mid-2020, following the massive stimulus measures deployed in response to the COVID crisis.

“This marks the longest contraction of the Global Liquidity Index in Bitcoin's history—three years and counting (measured from the peak). Previous tightening episodes (2014–2016 and 2018–2019) lasted < 2yrs. How much longer will this go on?”

According to Coutts, this state of affairs may force the authorities' hand into making a final, desperate bid to keep the system afloat with a renewed injection of liquidity.

“We are approaching an inflection point. If nominal GDP continues lagging behind rising interest costs and if debt-to-GDP exceeds 100%, rendering refinancing impossible, then we'll likely see a final round of coordinated macroeconomic stimulus across the major economies (or Cat 5 euphoria!).”

Coutts adds that governments, especially those with debt-to-GDP ratios exceeding 100%, would be hard-pressed to refinance if nominal GDP lags behind rising interest costs.

“The fiat, fractional-reserve, debt-based system will implode without liquidity injections. The spice must flow.”

At press time, BTC trades at $87,703.