Crypto Market Outlook: Tom Lee Urges Investors to Buy the Dip

• 19 October 2025
• |
• 11:00

As crypto traders brace for another volatile week, BitMine’s Tom Lee is choosing optimism over panic.

While prices have whipsawed and liquidations piled up, Lee insists that the recent drawdown is less a collapse than a cleansing moment – a chance for patient investors to reload before the next major advance.

The veteran analyst, known for his contrarian streak, argues that extreme pessimism often precedes recovery. “Markets move fastest when everyone’s afraid,” he said during a recent podcast. “That’s usually where new cycles begin.”

Accumulation, Not Capitulation

BitMine has been quietly putting that philosophy into practice. On-chain data shows the firm moved more than 104,000 ETH – worth roughly $417 million – into new cold-storage wallets this month. The move follows a series of similar transfers that signal accumulation rather than retreat.

Lee believes Ethereum’s fundamentals remain intact and expects the network to lead the next growth phase in digital assets. His long-term projection – $10,000 to $12,000 per ETH by late 2025 – rests on the assumption that institutional demand will keep expanding even if macro conditions stay turbulent.

Macro Winds May Be Turning

The wider market narrative also appears to be shifting. President Donald Trump confirmed plans to meet with China’s President Xi Jinping within two weeks to renegotiate U.S. tariffs, calling the current setup “not sustainable.” Any progress toward a tariff rollback could ease pressure on risk assets that have suffered under global trade uncertainty.

At the same time, Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell hinted that the central bank is considering rate cuts at upcoming policy meetings, citing softer labor data and weak inflation expectations. Lower borrowing costs would likely revive appetite for growth assets – crypto included.

Volatility as Opportunity

The shake-out has been brutal: more than $1 billion in leveraged positions were liquidated in the past day, with Bitcoin accounting for $369 million and Ethereum another $262 million. Yet Lee sees that purge as healthy. “It’s the market’s way of resetting leverage and sentiment,” he noted. “The next leg up starts when that excess is gone.”

BitMine’s internal models still flag October as a historically volatile but lucrative entry window. With only 22 percent of active fund managers outperforming benchmarks this year, Lee expects professional money to start “chasing performance” before year-end – a dynamic that could spark renewed inflows into digital assets.

Looking Ahead

Whether the catalyst comes from policy relief, cheaper credit, or simple mean reversion, Lee remains convinced that fear has overshot reality. His message to investors was characteristically short: “BTFD.”

In an environment clouded by tariffs, rate debates, and trillion-dollar liquidations, the BitMine chairman’s calm may sound contrarian – but that’s precisely the point.