- CryptoQuant founder Ki Young Ju said on X that Bitcoin’s current rally signals the bear market bottom is already in, and that the bear phase is “pretty much done.”
- Bitcoin traded near $77,710 on August 21, up sharply from the $62,000-to-$65,000 range it had held for weeks.
- Six weeks earlier, Ju was still warning that a bounce would likely be temporary and that the bear market could run into 2027.
CryptoQuant founder Ki Young Ju told followers on X on August 21 that Bitcoin’s strength is itself the signal. “Rallies like this in bear markets usually signal the bottom is in,” he wrote, adding that a dip was still possible but the bear phase was “pretty much done.”
BTC looking strong here. Rallies like this in bear markets usually signal the bottom is in.
Might see a dip, but the bear phase is pretty much done imo.
— Ki Young Ju (@ki_young_ju) August 21, 2026
Bitcoin backed up the mood. The coin traded near $77,710 that morning, up sharply after a rally Ju attributed to whale wallets that had opened large long positions “at the bottom on exchanges last week.” Other coverage has pointed to bond-market news and broader buying across Asia as contributing factors, so no single catalyst is agreed on yet.
That call reverses what Ju had been saying for weeks, and it is not the first time his most confident Bitcoin calls have flipped within days of a sharp price move rather than ahead of one.
A Reversal Six Weeks in the Making
Ju was not saying this six weeks ago. As recently as July 11, he suggested any rebound would likely be temporary relief inside a bear market he expected to stretch into 2027. That view had hardened weeks earlier: on June 26, he said Bitcoin “does not appear to be close to a bottom yet” by the metric he watches most, the point where price revisits the average cost basis of all holders. Even further back, on May 30, he had warned that “once profit-taking cascades, Bitcoin investors’ PnL typically falls for about 18 months,” a timeline that reached well past whatever is happening this week.
Nothing in that record was wrong on its face. Analysts revise views as data changes, and Ju has said the rally itself, driven by whale wallets he tracks closely, is new information. But the size of the swing is notable: a bear call built on an 18-month framework collapsed into a bottom call inside six weeks, timed almost exactly to the first sharp green candle.
The Same Script, Last Cycle
This is not the first time. In March 2025, Ju forecast bearish-to-sideways price action for six to twelve months based on whale profit-taking cycles. Bitcoin surged past $100,000 within two months. On X, he admitted it directly: “Two months ago, I said the bull cycle was over, but I was wrong.” He pointed to easing selling pressure and massive ETF inflows as the shift his whale-driven framework had missed.
Two months ago, I said the bull cycle was over, but I was wrong. #Bitcoin selling pressure is easing, and massive inflows are coming through ETFs.
In the past, the Bitcoin market was pretty simple. The main players were old whales, miners, and new retail investors, basically… pic.twitter.com/oN4n6vNc0s
— Ki Young Ju (@ki_young_ju) May 9, 2025
That is the same basic shape repeating now: a confident multi-month call, overtaken by a price move, followed by a fast public reversal. The only thing missing this time is the apology, and it is too early to know if one will be needed.
What Would Actually Prove Him Right
Bitcoin is still about 38 percent below its October 2025 high of $126,272, so a bottom claim made near $77,000 carries real room to be tested either way. If price holds above the range it just broke out of, this call ages well. If it slides back into that range, it will read like May 2025 again: a call made at the wrong moment, on the way to being reversed.
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