Tom Lee says U.S. shares can end 2025 larger and crypto ought to rally into year-end after a pointy deleveraging, laying out his case throughout an interview Friday on CNBC’s “Closing Bell: Extra time.”
Pressed by co-host Jon Fortt on whether or not the risk-on commerce is again, Lee, who’s the chairman of Bitmine Immersion Applied sciences (BMNR), in addition to the top of analysis at Fundstrat World Advisors and chief funding officer at Fundstrat Capital, famous he stayed bullish by way of the spring hunch, reminding viewers Fundstrat’s year-end S&P 500 goal was 6,600 on the April lows.
With the index round 6,800 and roughly 10 weeks left, he stated a “typical yr” would add about 4%, which “places us over 7,000 into the tip of the yr,” and argued the achieve may very well be as a lot as 10%. He tied the upside to Fed cuts that started in September after a protracted pause — one thing he stated occurred solely in 1998 and 2024 over the previous 50 years — plus persistent investor skepticism that may gasoline late-year advances.
Requested by Fortt how crypto matches alongside tariff and commerce worries, Lee pointed to Oct. 10 as “the most important liquidation occasion in 5 years,” saying the flush was partly sparked by escalating U.S.–China tariff tensions. Regardless of that, bitcoin fell solely 3%–4%, which he framed as an indication of resilience. “If this occurred in gold… and gold was solely down just a few proportion factors, we’d… contemplate that an actual validation,” he stated, calling bitcoin a “fairly good retailer of worth” in that context.
He sees setup bettering into year-end, stating that each bitcoin and ether are at report lows in open curiosity — a measure of excellent futures and choices positions — whereas technicals are “flipping optimistic.” A cleaner derivatives backdrop, he stated, typically precedes upside. Lee additionally highlighted a supportive headline from conventional finance, saying it helps to see JPMorgan “open to the concept of utilizing crypto as collateral.”
Co-host Morgan Brennan then requested whether or not crypto’s tone nonetheless leads equities and the way bitcoin and ether map to U.S. indexes. Lee answered that the indicators look “fairly bullish,” arguing crypto typically flags path for shares and broader liquidity. He linked bitcoin’s conduct to the S&P 500 and stated ether has implications for small caps by way of the Russell 2000.
On fundamentals, Lee stated Ethereum exercise is climbing on each L1 and L2, pushed by stablecoins, however that utilization takes time to be mirrored in worth —s upporting his view of a “fairly massive transfer” into year-end for ETH in addition to BTC.
U.S. shares ended Friday larger, with the S&P 500 at 6,791.69 (+0.79% on the day, +15.73% YTD), the Nasdaq Composite at 23,204.87 (+1.15%, +20.35% YTD) and the Dow at 47,207.12 (+1.01%, +11.36% YTD). As of 12:50 p.m. UTC Saturday, bitcoin modified palms at $111,776 (+0.3% over 24 hours, +19.60% YTD) and ether at $3,952 (−0.4% over 24 hours, +18.15% YTD).
