Bitcoin to $100k? Feat. CoinMarketCap’s Research Lead Alice Liu

Episode 39 of The Starting Block, hosted by The Block's Gareth Jenkinson, was broadcasted live with Coinmarketcap Head of Research Alice Liu.

Key topics
• Why did Bitcoin get short squeezed to $87K?
• CoinMarketCap believe we are currently in an altcoin season.
• $3B TVL in Tokenized Stocks and Bstocks leading the way in volume.
• Why is Bitcoin looking better than gold?

Summary

CoinMarketCap's Research Lead Alice Liu joins the Starting Block to discuss whether Bitcoin's move to $87k was a short squeeze, if we are currently in an altcoin season, and what she thinks will happen to Bitcoin going into the end of 2026.

Citing CMC data on liquidations, which saw around $558m USD of shorts get liquidated on Monday compared to only $57m USD of longs getting liquidated, Liu believes the move qualifies as a short squeeze. The overall macro picture is sending risk-on assets higher. The Nasdaq 100 index hit an all time high over 30k and the CMC fear and greed index sits at 75, up 11 points from last week.

The duo discussed altcoins, wiht Liu stating that the CMC altcoin season index is currently sitting at 52, indicating we may have arrived in an alt season, noting some of the best performers in the last 24 hours being Bitcoin Cash and Uniswap. Both are up around 15-20% after news of CME listing these coins as futures. Alice goes through her upcoming CoinMarketCap research report on tokenized stocks. With around $3B in TVL across chains with Ondo taking up 37% of that. Liu also noted that Robinhood chain saw volumes due to memecoin packages being sold alongside tokenised stocks.

Looking at the rest of 2026 and into early 2027, Liu noted that Bitcoin's three consecutive months of gains — 7.2% in July, 24.9% in August, and 8.8% so far in September — mirror a pattern last seen in 2012, when October saw a dip rather than a continuation. She said the next Federal Reserve interest-rate decision on October 28 carries roughly a 55% chance of another 25-basis-point hike. Despite that, Liu argued that Bitcoin looks more attractive than gold on a relative performance basis since the October 2025 high, and that continued ETF inflows and asset manager allocations should support BTC as gold and oil prices ease.

About the guest

Alice Liu is the Head of Research at CoinMarketCap, a crypto data and price-aggregation platform, where she joined in 2022 to build the research division and publishes monthly reports covering on-chain analytics, DeFi, RWA tokenization, and broader market trends. Before CoinMarketCap, she held roles in digital-asset research at WisdomTree and as a Senior Investment Associate at Coutts, with earlier experience at J.P. Morgan.

OUTLINE
00:07 - Intro
02:29 - The Block Briefing
07:57 - The Hot Seat: Alice Liu
09:00 - Bitcoin's $87K Squeeze
11:30 - Altcoin Season Confirmed
14:10 - RWA Tokenized Stocks Deep Dive
18:38 - Memecoins Meet Tokenized Stocks
22:09 - BTC Price Outlook for 2026
25:50 - Bitcoin vs. Gold
27:17 - Wrap-Up

Guest links:
Alice Liu - https://x.com/AliceCrypto3
CoinMarketCap - https://x.com/CoinMarketCap

Host links:
Gareth Jenkinson - https://x.com/gazza_jenks
The Block - https://x.com/TheBlockCo