Standard Chartered cuts 2026 ETH target to $4,000

Standard Chartered reduced its 2026 Ethereum price target by 47% to $4,000 from $7,500 while keeping a 2030 forecast of $40,000. The revision appeared in a note from the bank’s digital assets research team while Ether traded around $1,745, down more than 7% on the day and below a $1,800 support level.

The note was led by Geoff Kendrick. The bank also trimmed its end-2026 Bitcoin target to $100,000, adding that the changes reflect a short-term repricing across its digital assets coverage rather than a shift in its long-term view.

Kendrick pointed to network activity as the basis for the unchanged long-term outlook. Transaction counts and total value locked in Ethereum-denominated terms remain near record levels, even though Ether trades about 65% below its August 2025 peak near $4,946. The bank left interim modeling and the $40,000 2030 projection intact.

Kendrick likened the current price slump to Amazon’s collapse in 2001 and wrote: ‘I view ETH’s performance very much as Jeff Bezos described AMZN share price during the 2001 tech bubble burst.’

Selling pressure continued on market flows. US spot Ethereum exchange-traded funds posted a daily net outflow of about $52.94 million, bringing total net assets in those funds to roughly $9.96 billion and extending recent withdrawals.

Standard Chartered linked a potential Ether low near $1,400 to a deeper Bitcoin capitulation scenario in which BTC falls toward $50,000. The bank noted elevated short interest that could produce a rapid rebound if Ether reclaims lost levels and prompts short covering.

Maintaining the $40,000 2030 target while cutting the 2026 call implies more than 20 times upside from current prices to reach the 2030 goal, according to the bank’s modelling.