2026 Cryptocurrency and Commodity Market New Opportunities: Assets That Institutional Investors Are Focusing On

As we pass through the turbulent year of 2025, the financial markets have reached a new turning point. Looking ahead to 2026, what assets are major investment institutions highlighting as promising opportunities?

Bitcoin and Ethereum: Growth Potential in the Cryptocurrency Market

Bitcoin remains at the center of market attention. Currently trading around $93.39K, opinions among institutions are divided. Standard Chartered predicts Bitcoin will reach $150,000 in 2026 but also mentions the possibility of halting purchases by crypto financial firms, leading to a downward revision of previous forecasts from $200,000 to $150,000.

Meanwhile, Bernstein is more optimistic. It argues that Bitcoin has broken out of its traditional 4-year cycle pattern and entered a longer bullish cycle, projecting $150,000 in 2026 and $200,000 in 2027. Conversely, Morgan Stanley issues a warning, stating that based on the still-valid 4-year cycle, the current bullish trend is nearing its end.

Ethereum showed greater volatility than Bitcoin and closed 2025 on a high note. With its current price at $3.26K, institutions maintain a positive outlook. JP Morgan assessed that the enormous potential of tokenization heavily depends on Ethereum’s blockchain infrastructure, and Tom Lee of Fundstrat claims that Ethereum has bottomed out amid the upcoming crypto supercycle, with a significant rebound expected. He boldly forecasts Ethereum reaching $20,000 in 2026.

Precious Metals: Assets Benefiting from Supply-Demand Imbalances

Gold surged 60% in 2025, marking its largest annual gain since 1979, driven by Federal Reserve rate cuts, ongoing central bank purchases, and geopolitical tensions. The World Gold Council expects this positive trend to continue into 2026.

Additional rate cuts by the Fed, a weakening US dollar, and escalating geopolitical risks could push gold prices up by 5–15% in 2026. If global economic slowdown and aggressive easing policies by the Fed unfold, gains of 15–30% are possible. Major investment banks’ target prices range from $4,500 to $5,000 per ounce. Goldman Sachs anticipates reaching $4,900 per ounce by year-end, supported by increased central bank demand and ETF inflows. Bank of America projects gold reaching $5,000 per ounce.

Silver outperformed gold with even more remarkable gains. Due to supply shortages and a sharp decline in the gold-silver ratio, silver prices significantly outpaced gold in 2025. The Silver Institute warns that strong industrial demand, recovering investment demand, and slowing supply growth will sustain structural shortages. This supply-demand imbalance is likely to persist or deepen in 2026, supporting silver prices. UBS has set a target of $58–$60 per ounce, with potential to reach $65. Bank of America also forecasts silver rising to $65 per ounce in 2026.

US Stock Market and Nasdaq 100: Sustained AI Investment Cycle

In 2025, the Nasdaq 100 rose 22%, outpacing the S&P 500’s 18%. With three consecutive years of gains, strong performance is expected to continue into 2026.

JP Morgan emphasizes that mega-cap data center operators like Amazon, Google, Microsoft, and Meta are expected to maintain high capital expenditures over the coming years, with cumulative investments potentially reaching hundreds of billions of dollars. This investment cycle is anticipated to positively impact key Nasdaq 100 components such as NVIDIA, AMD, and Broadcom. Under an optimistic scenario where the S&P 500 hits 7,500 points in 2026, the Nasdaq 100 could surpass 27,000 points. Deutsche Bank is even more bullish, expecting the S&P 500 to reach 8,000 points by the end of 2026.

Foreign Exchange Market: Changes Driven by Monetary Policy Divergence

EUR/USD rose about 13% in 2025 amid US dollar weakness, marking its highest annual gain in eight years. In 2026, continued appreciation is expected due to the divergence in monetary policies—rate cuts by the Fed and rate freezes by the ECB. JP Morgan forecasts a rate of 1.20 by year-end, while Bank of America expects 1.22. However, Morgan Stanley warns that as the US economy surpasses Europe in the second half of 2026, downside pressures may emerge, with the pair initially rising to 1.23 before falling to 1.16.

USD/JPY opinions vary. JP Morgan and Barclays expect the yen to strengthen, reaching 164 by year-end, while Nomura anticipates a decline to 140, citing reduced carry trade attractiveness due to narrowing interest rate differentials.

Energy: Oversupply Pressures

In 2025, OPEC+ resumed production, and US shale output increased, causing crude oil prices to plummet about 20%. In 2026, oversupply is likely to persist, posing downside risks. Goldman Sachs projects a bearish scenario with WTI at $52 and Brent at $56 per barrel, while JP Morgan expects WTI at $54 and Brent at $58.

The market in 2026 will be driven by different factors for each asset class. Growth in cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin and Ethereum, supply shortages in precious metals like gold and silver, the ongoing AI investment cycle in US equities, and foreign exchange volatility driven by monetary policy divergence are expected to create both opportunities and risks for investors.