Bitcoin hits records against local currencies in Asia and South America with daily increase of 7%

Last updated: May 21, 2024 02:45 EDT | 2 minutes reading

Bitcoin reached historic highs against local currencies in several countries in Asia and South America, following a significant 7% increase in its price.

On May 21, Bitcoin reached an intraday and six-week high of $71,650, marking a gain of over 7% in a 24-hour period.

According to CoinGecko, this puts the asset within a 3.4% range of its all-time high in dollar terms, recorded on March 14, at $73,738.

Bitcoin Reaches New Highs Against Multiple Fiat Currencies

The rise in the price of Bitcoin has resulted in new records against several fiat currencies.

In Japan, BTC reached an all-time high of 11.2 million yen during the start of trading on May 21.

This marks the first time the asset has surpassed the JPY 11 million threshold.

The Japanese yen has seen a weakening trend against the US dollar in recent months, depreciating 10% since the beginning of the year.

Argentina also witnessed Bitcoin reaching a peak value of 63.8 million Argentine pesos (ARS) on May 21, slightly surpassing the highs seen in mid-March.

The country has been battling high inflation, currently at a staggering 290%, along with currency devaluation over the past two years.

In the Philippines, Bitcoin briefly reached a record high of 4.18 million pesos (PHP) on May 21, surpassing mid-March highs.

Similar trends have been observed in other countries such as Britain, Australia, Canada, Chile, Colombia, Egypt, Norway, India, South Korea, Taiwan and Turkey, as noted by industry observer Thomas Fahrer in X.

Bitcoin Short Squeeze on the Horizon?

On a recent post on XCrypto analyst Willy Woo highlighted a month’s worth of liquidation of Bitcoin short positions, suggesting the possibility of a short squeeze beyond all-time highs.

Coinglass reported that in the last 24 hours, 79,010 traders were liquidated, with total cryptocurrency liquidations totaling $345 million, of which 78.5% were short positions.

As reported, Markus Thielen, head of research at 10x Research, previously predicted that a advance above US$67,500 could potentially lead to new all-time highs.

BTC is currently trading at $70,945, just $2,500 away from reaching a new all-time high in US Dollars.

In addition to 10x Research, some other analysts were also bullish on Bitcoin after a weeks-long consolidation.

Leading trading firm QCP Capital expressed optimism about Bitcoin price dynamics, predicting a potential return to highs of $74,000.

In a recent note, the company said it observed substantial buyers purchasing 100,000 to 120,000 BTC calls for December 2024, indicating confidence in the cryptocurrency’s upward movement.

“US CPI numbers triggered a breakout in the risk asset range. Since then, BTC has traded above 66K,” the company wrote.

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