TL;DR
- Van de Poppe challenged the crowded belief that Bitcoin must bottom in October 2026 below $45,000, calling the consensus vulnerable to surprise.
- Bitcoin traded near $65,683, up almost 3%, after the U.S.-Iran peace deal improved market sentiment and helped momentum turn.
- His five anchor altcoins are NEAR, TAO, EIGEN, W, and ONDO, reflecting relative strength across infrastructure, decentralized AI, restaking, and tokenized real-world asset narratives this cycle.
Michaël van de Poppe is pushing back against the market’s growing confidence that Bitcoin must bottom in October 2026 below $45,000, turning a widely repeated bearish script into a contrarian warning. The founder of MN Fund mocked the certainty around that scenario, arguing that when everyone expects one outcome, markets often move another way. Bitcoin was trading near $65,683, up almost 3% after the U.S.-Iran peace deal improved risk sentiment. The uncomfortable point is that Bitcoin bottom consensus may be too crowded, even as traders remain nervous after the latest correction during a volatile week shaped by geopolitical relief and fragile liquidity.
It's very clear that the markets are going to bottom in October '26 at <$45,000 for #Bitcoin.
That's atleast what everybody expects to see happening in these markets.
And just as everybody expects it, for sure we'll see it happening, right?
— Michaël van de Poppe (@CryptoMichNL) June 14, 2026
The timing gives his comments extra weight. Bitcoin has corrected sharply from recent highs, leaving traders split between capitulation fears and the possibility that the worst of the drawdown has already passed. Van de Poppe did not dismiss risk, but he suggested that Bitcoin had broken back into range and could start grinding higher if momentum continued after the U.S. open. That makes his Bitcoin view less bearish than the crowd’s, because he is questioning the certainty of a deeper October low rather than simply calling for immediate upside for now across spot and derivatives venues today.
Five Altcoins Anchor the Contrarian Setup
Van de Poppe also named the five altcoins anchoring his portfolio during this uncertain phase: NEAR, TAO, EIGEN, W, and ONDO. His logic is that the strongest altcoins from recent months are likely to remain strong if Bitcoin stabilizes or moves higher. That is a selective strategy, not a broad altcoin call. In practical terms, relative strength is doing the screening, because he favors assets that have already outperformed instead of chasing newer narratives with weaker proof of demand in the current market structure.
The basket also reflects several dominant crypto themes. NEAR represents scalable infrastructure, TAO gives exposure to decentralized AI, EIGEN sits inside restaking, ONDO targets tokenized real-world assets, and W rounds out the allocation across active market narratives. The approach creates a mixed signal: caution around Bitcoin’s near-term consensus, but confidence in altcoins with stronger recent performance. For traders, the setup depends on Bitcoin stabilization, since altcoin rotations historically accelerate once BTC stops falling and capital begins searching for higher-beta winners with clearer momentum and stronger thematic support this quarter ahead.
