Ex-Goldman Sachs Executive Breaks Down the Current Stage of the Crypto Cycle

• Raoul Pal, former Goldman Sachs executive and CEO of Real Vision, argues that the crypto market is currently in a mid-cycle phase rather than a late-cycle top, driven mainly by shifts in global liquidity conditions.
• He says that a previous period of negative excess liquidity redirected capital toward artificial intelligence, temporarily weakening crypto performance.
• Pal now sees excess liquidity turning positive again, which he interprets as a supportive backdrop for digital assets, especially layer one networks such as Ethereum, Solana, and Sui, which he considers oversold and positioned for asymmetric upside.
  

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Raoul Pal, former Goldman Sachs executive and current macro investor, has outlined his view that the crypto market remains in a mid-cycle phase rather than approaching a structural peak. His framework focuses on liquidity conditions as the primary driver of digital asset performance. According to Pal, the recent weakness in crypto is not linked to a breakdown in fundamentals, but to capital being redirected toward other sectors during a period of constrained monetary expansion.

Crypto Cycle And Liquidity Rotation

Pal explains that crypto underperformed during a phase of negative excess liquidity, a condition where monetary expansion lagged behind economic growth. In this environment, capital tends to concentrate in sectors perceived as having stronger short-term compounding potential. He identifies artificial intelligence as the main beneficiary of this shift, attracting significant inflows from both institutional and retail investors.

Industry figures such as Arthur Hayes and Michael Saylor have also previously noted similar liquidity-driven rotation patterns, suggesting that capital cycles tend to move between high-growth technology sectors depending on macro conditions. Pal now argues that this phase is starting to reverse. He highlights that broader liquidity indicators, including global M2 trends, have turned more supportive, creating what he sees as renewed space for risk assets like Bitcoin and Ethereum.

Crypto Cycle Valuation Signals And Market Positioning

In his analysis of where the market currently stands, Pal uses long-term valuation models applied to Bitcoin and other major tokens. He points to statistical deviations from trend lines that place several layer one networks in deeply oversold territory. Bitcoin, in his view, is trading below its long-term regression band, a level historically associated with accumulation phases rather than distribution zones.

He also contrasts this with sectors like semiconductors, which he describes as significantly overextended relative to historical averages. This divergence, between overbought equity leaders and oversold crypto assets, is central to his relative value thesis. Pal has stated that he is actively accumulating Ethereum, Solana, and Sui based on this risk-reward imbalance, emphasizing that downside appears limited compared to potential upside under improving liquidity conditions.