Skip to navigationSkip to main contentSkip to right columnAnanda BanerjeeMon, June 15, 2026 at 3:36 PM GMT+2 4 min readGeoffrey Kendrick, Standard Chartered's Global Head of Digital Assets Research, thinks the crypto winter is behind us. His view is that the market has already seen its cycle low, which he placed at the $59,000 Bitcoin touched on June 5.His call drew wide coverage, but fewer looked at where the data stands. BeInCrypto scored it against four crypto winter metrics, and three of them already back him. The one that holds out marginally, and that could be the most important one to watch.The BTC Cycle Low Call and the Catalysts Behind ItThat $59,000 low marked a 53% drop from Bitcoin's $126,000 record in October 2025. Kendrick mentioned:"I think we have now seen the low in crypto asset prices for the cycle," he said.He also added:"Winter is over. Welcome back to crypto spring."His reasoning rests on two pressures easing.Want more token insights like this? Sign up for Editor Harsh Notariya’s Daily Crypto Newsletter here.The first is macro. A G7-linked US-Iran peace deal, if it holds, would cap oil and the US Treasury yields that weigh on risk assets. Brent crude even slid toward $80 as deal talk spread, loosening that pressure. Bitcoin has since recovered to about $66,000.The second is structural. Bitcoin exchange-traded funds, the regulated products that hold Bitcoin for investors, saw heavy selling into the SpaceX IPO. Kendrick points to holders selling ETF shares to free cash for the listing. With SpaceX now trading, that drain looks finished.Leverage and Sentiment Back the CallThe leverage metric agrees with Kendrick. Average funding, the cost traders pay to hold leveraged positions, sits at negative 3.9%, meaning the market pays you to be long.That is classic capitulation. Open interest, the total size of futures bets, collapsed and has only just turned up. Together, that shows excess leverage has been flushed, the condition that lets a recovery begin.Signal 1, Deleveraging and Leverage-Stress: Charlie Quant LabThe sentiment metric, the second metric, leans the same way. The Fear and Greed Index, which blends volatility and crowd mood into one number from zero to 100, reads near 20, deep in extreme fear. That level clusters near market lows. As the indicator frames it, maximum pessimism has often marked maximum opportunity, which fits Kendrick's view that the worst is behind.Composite Macro and Sentiment: Charlie Quant LabBoth describe a market that has stopped breaking down and is starting to steady.The Bitcoin Buying That Confirms the TurnKendrick's buying confirmation has now landed, and this is the third metric in his favor. He wanted fresh Bitcoin buying from Strategy, formerly MicroStrategy, after its small 32-BTC sale unsettled the market.Terms and Privacy PolicyPrivacy & Cookie SettingsMore Info