Bitcoin hits a new record high against EUR and GBP

Bitcoin’s price finally returned to the levels it saw back in November 2021, during the height of the previous rally, when the coin reached the price of $69k. This time, the coin surged to record highs against both the EUR and the GBP, hitting €60,447 and £51,736 respectively, according to data from Coinbase.

However, the coin did not manage to surpass its old ATH when it comes to the US dollar, which stood at over $69,000 on November 11, 2021.

Even so, Bitcoin’s price surged by around 7% in the last 24 hours to reach this height. Meanwhile, the Dollar Index — a gauge of USD’s strength against six major rivals — closed higher last week, which added to a cumulative gain of 2.7% in January and February.

This can be explained by a recent report by Grayscale, which shows that US inflation has seen a steady decline ever since the start of this year. However, despite this, markets still anticipate a higher inflation outlook in the future.

Grayscale’s analysts have suggested that the US interest rates’ current uptrend could exert downward pressure on Bitcoin while benefitting the value of the US dollar.

Bitcoin has been growing for several months now, and last Friday, the coin finally managed to return to a height above $65,000 per unit. The move triggered a major surge in liquidations of leveraged BTC positions, which led to increased volatility, leading, in turn, to decent liquidations.

Massive short squeeze makes BTC price shoot up

Over $80 million in BTC positions was liquidated, with the overwhelming majority ($60 million) being shorts. The apparent short squeeze helped the coin surge even higher, especially since the overall market saw more than $160 million in liquidated short positions in 24 hours alone. This contributed to a total of $251 million in liquidations.

Liquidations happen when traders’ positions are forcibly closed due to insufficient funds to cover losses. This happens when the market moves in an unfavorable way regarding the position, essentially depleting the initial margin or collateral.

While BTC did not manage to surpass its former ATH, it did come very close to it, and is still eyeing its former record price. The price surge also triggered shares of firms like Coinbase and Microstrategy to go up, as well. Coinbase saw a surge of over 6%, while Microstrategy, which holds over 190,000 BTC, rose by 8.2%.

The same can be said for Bitcoin mining firms, including CleanSpark (8% gain), Iris Energy (6.8% gain), Marathon Digital (6.6% gain), and Riot Platforms (4.7% gain).