Tom Lee says U.S. shares can end 2025 increased 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: Time beyond regulation.”
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 pinnacle of analysis at Fundstrat International Advisors and chief funding officer at Fundstrat Capital, famous he stayed bullish by way of the spring droop, 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 mentioned a “typical yr” would add about 4%, which “places us over 7,000 into the tip of the yr,” and argued the achieve might be as a lot as 10%. He tied the upside to Fed cuts that started in September after an extended pause — one thing he mentioned 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 suits alongside tariff and commerce worries, Lee pointed to Oct. 10 as “the largest 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 share factors, we’d… think about that an actual validation,” he mentioned, calling bitcoin a “fairly good retailer of worth” in that context.
He sees setup bettering into year-end, declaring that each bitcoin and ether are at file lows in open curiosity — a measure of excellent futures and choices positions — whereas technicals are “flipping optimistic.” A cleaner derivatives backdrop, he mentioned, usually precedes upside. Lee additionally highlighted a supportive headline from conventional finance, saying it helps to see JPMorgan “open to the thought 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 that crypto usually flags course for shares and broader liquidity. He linked bitcoin’s conduct to the S&P 500 and mentioned ether has implications for small caps by way of the Russell 2000.
On fundamentals, Lee mentioned Ethereum exercise is climbing on each L1 and L2, pushed by stablecoins, however that utilization takes time to be mirrored in costs, supporting his view of a “fairly massive transfer” into year-end for ETH in addition to BTC.
U.S. shares ended Friday increased, 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).