Bitcoin (BTC) Three-Month Rally Marks End of Bear Market, Tom Lee Declares

Table of Contents Tom Lee, Fundstrat’s co-founder and Bitmine’s chairman, declared at Consensus 2026 in Miami on May 7 that the cryptocurrency bear market has concluded. Lee established a specific threshold: should Bitcoin finish May trading above $76,000, marking three consecutive positive monthly closes, the downward trend has definitively ended. “You have never in a bear market if bitcoin closes up three consecutive months,” Lee stated. According to the CoinDesk Bitcoin Price Index, Bitcoin concluded April at $76,300. Currently, BTC hovers just under $80,000, representing approximately 20% growth over the last month. Lee’s assessment received support from legendary technical analyst John Bollinger, the inventor of Bollinger Bands. Bollinger announced via X that his trend model for Bitcoin had flipped bullish and his Tactica program had gone fully invested. Lee reshared Bollinger’s post with a straightforward message: “Crypto spring is here.” TOM LEE SAYS "IF #BITCOIN CLOSES ABOVE $76,000 THIS MONTH, THE BEAR MARKET IS DEFINITIVELY OVER." 🚀 "CRYPTO WINTER IS OVER" 👀 pic.twitter.com/RvHAfofK9z — The Bitcoin Conference (@TheBitcoinConf) May 7, 2026 Lee characterized the recent decline from $126,000 in October to $60,000 in February as the bearish phase. He contends that market participants remain mentally tethered to that correction and are failing to recognize the strength of the ongoing recovery. Lee identified two fundamental forces that will propel the upcoming bull market: the tokenization of real-world assets and AI agents leveraging blockchain infrastructure for autonomous financial transactions. He highlighted stablecoin adoption as evidence this transformation is underway. Transaction volumes for stablecoins have already eclipsed Visa’s payment network, Lee noted. Research from Grayscale indicates the $300 trillion global securities market could eventually transition onto blockchain platforms as tokenized instruments. “The networks that host a large share of tokenized activity are going to capture the economic value,” Lee emphasized. Lee drew comparisons between JPMorgan, expected to generate approximately $60 billion in earnings this year with 300,000 employees, and entities like Tether and Jane Street, which produce comparable profits with significantly smaller workforces. He explained that crypto-native enterprises remove numerous conventional financial intermediaries. “In 10 years, half of the largest financial institutions in the world will be native digital,” Lee projected. During a CNBC appearance, Lee also connected cryptocurrency strength to AI-fueled stock market gains, robust corporate earnings reports, and substantial capital remaining uninvested. He recognized potential headwinds, including uncertainty surrounding the next Federal Reserve chair appointment and global oil supply vulnerabilities. Lee reaffirmed his previous forecast that Bitcoin could achieve $250,000 this year if it establishes a new all-time high. Bitcoin’s current valuation stands near $79,245.