Goldman Sachs and Canaccord Genuity raised their price targets on two of crypto's biggest listed names this week, sending a clear signal that the sell-side is warming to the sector after a rough stretch. Goldman bumped its target on Coinbase (COIN) to $196 from $173, a roughly 13% increase, while Canaccord lifted its target on Strategy (MSTR) to $175 from $130 — a jump of about 35%. Both firms maintained Buy ratings.
The numbers behind the moves
Coinbase stock closed Tuesday at $187.16, up 4.28%. That leaves the new Goldman target only about 5% above the current price — hardly a blockbuster upside call. Strategy, on the other hand, closed at $126.83, and the new Canaccord target sits roughly 38% above that close. The gap is stark, and it tells you where each analyst thinks the bigger risk-reward lives.
Both names have run hard in the past week. MSTR has gained 34.66% since August 19, and COIN has added 27.14% over the same stretch. So the target raises come on the back of real momentum, not just paper changes.
Why Goldman moved on Coinbase
Goldman pointed to two drivers. One is upside optionality if the broader crypto backdrop keeps improving. The other is what it called strong idiosyncratic growth in newer Coinbase businesses, especially derivatives and prediction markets. That's a nod to Coinbase's push beyond plain spot trading into products that can grow even when trading volumes are flat.
The firm had a $235 target on Coinbase back in March before trimming it. This week's move is a partial climb back, but it's still well below the March level. Analysts had cut COIN targets on July 31 after a third straight earnings miss, so this is the first meaningful upgrade since that cut.
What Canaccord sees in Strategy
Canaccord's note is simpler: the setup for MSTR has materially brightened over the last couple of weeks. No complicated reasoning, just a straightforward observation that the business environment has turned favorable. Strategy, formerly MicroStrategy, has been the leveraged play on bitcoin adoption, and its stock has been volatile. A 35% target raise suggests the firm believes the recent run can hold.
The implied upside to the new targets is stark — roughly 5% for COIN versus 38% for MSTR. That's not a prediction of short-term moves, but it does tell you where each analyst thinks the bigger discount is. Investors will likely read it as a more confident bet on Strategy's bitcoin-driven model than on Coinbase's exchange-plus-something story.
What happens next
Both target revisions are now on the books, and the market has already priced in part of the move. The real test comes with the next earnings reports, where both companies have to show they can keep the recent growth alive. For Coinbase, the question is whether derivatives and prediction markets can fill any gap left by a sluggish spot market. For Strategy, the bitcoin price will do the talking.
