Denmark-based Saxo Bank has continued its nearly two-decade tradition by publishing nine outrageous predictions for 2026.
The annual tradition sees experts at the bank make predictions about near-unthinkable eventualities that could shatter markets and change the world in significant ways, but only if they come to pass.
By its own admission, the predictions are not actually expected to happen — they are about being “outrageous”, not being “right”.
In the 2025 predictions, the group predicted many things that were quite off the mark, such as bioengineered hearts entering the market or insurers going bankrupt from natural disasters.
But despite the many misses over the years, there have at least been a few predictions that have come close or, at the very least, thematically on point.
For example, the bank predicted that US President Donald Trump would “blow up the US dollar” with a global tariff war — something which was almost spot on.
While the dollar definitely depreciated this year, and markets moved quickly to find alternatives, it was hardly a collapse that could be classified as being “blown up”.
Another sound prediction was that tech giant Nvidia would grow to twice Apple’s size and become the most profitable company of all time.
While Nvidia has far from doubled Apple’s size — with a market cap of $5 trillion versus Apple’s $4.25 trillion — the AI chip leader did beat out other tech companies to become the first company in the world to break the $5 trillion valuation level, and is now the most valuable company in the world
Looking at profit, however, it is not quite there.
Saxo’s almost-hit and mostly miss trend has been ongoing for years. In 2024, the group predicted a global health crisis driven by the adoption of weight-loss medication and the end of exercise.
There was no global health crisis in 2024, nor has exercise gone anywhere, but 2024 did make waves with diabetes medication Ozempic becoming a hot trend for celebrities and those wealthy enough to afford the jab – leading to dramatic weight loss results.
Other outrageous predictions from the past have also been strikingly on-theme.
In 2023, the bank predicted that a country would move to ban all meat production by 2030. No ban was announced, but the UN did put meat production on the agenda as part of the fight back against climate change.
In 2022, it was predicted that the ‘end fossil fuels’ agenda would be postponed. This actually did happen – but for very different reasons.
While it was predicted that this would be born from policymakers, it was actually the Russian invasion of Ukraine that led to the setback.
The bank was also on the pulse with the rise of bitcoin and cryptocurrencies, and even called Brexit two years before it happened.
So heading into 2026, the predictions pose an interesting thought for the new year – potentially laying out something unexpected or related to what is to come.
Here are the bold predictions for 2026:
Analysts are waiting for ‘Q-Day’ to hit, where quantum computing changes the game for encryption, and everything we take for granted as secure.
“A quantum computer cracks today’s digital security, bringing enough chaos with it that Bitcoin crashes and gold spikes to $10,000.”
Celebrity culture and fixation have always been a significant cultural driving force, but when an entire generation gets influenced, markets stand to gain.
“Next year’s most anticipated wedding inspires Gen Z to drop the doomscrolling and dial up the real world, marriages, babies and all.”
It’s almost comical that a US election going smoothly has become an outrageous prediction, but given the heightened culture wars and rage-driven social media algorithms, this is where we are.
“Despite outstanding threats to the American democratic process, the US midterms come and go cordially, giving Democrats the House.”
With obesity drugs like Ozempic becoming more prolific and freely available, there’s no slowing down the development of new ways to cut the fat. Everyone can benefit, even your pets.
“The availability of GLP-1 obesity drugs in pill form makes them ubiquitous, shrinking waistlines, even for pets.”
As soon as Elon Musk’s SpaceX shows the viability and rapid turnaround for getting stuff from Earth into space, expect a public listing and huge buy-in — and competition.
“Financial markets go into orbit, to the moon and beyond as SpaceX expands rocket launches by orders of magnitude.”
As people start relying on AI for every passing thought, what’s to stop a Fortune 500 company from naming an AI model as its CEO?
“Can AI be trusted to take over in the boardroom? With the right algorithms and balanced human oversight, it might just work.”
A wider move away from the dollar has been brewing for years, and 2026 may be the year that the world’s second biggest economy, China, makes its move.
“Beijing does an end-run around the US dollar, setting up a framework for settling trade in a neutral asset: a fully gold-backed yuan.”
As the world bets big on AI, autonomous AI systems that can set their own goals, plan, and take action with minimal human intervention are bound to make mistakes. Big, expensive mistakes.
“Agentic AI systems are deployed across all sectors, and after a solid start, mistakes trigger a trillion-dollar cleanup.
With Brexit not delivering what it promised, the powers that be might look for a way to get back into the European Union while still masquerading as independent.
“Faced with rolling fiscal, economic, trade and political crises the UK government sneaks back into the EU through the back door via a customs deal.”
