The price of Bitcoin on Bitkub Exchange hit a new record high of 2.37 million baht on Wednesday after the global price of the cryptocurrency on Tuesday beat its record of US$69,000 per token in November 2021, rallying by 190% over the last year.
According to Coin Metrics, a crypto financial intelligence site, Bitcoin reached a new peak of $69,210 on March 5, breaking the previous record of $68,982.20 on Nov 10, 2021.
Clara Medalie, research director at crypto data provider Kaiko, said the new record is "an important psychological milestone" and "demonstrates crypto's remarkable ability to bounce back and continue to persevere despite major headwinds".
Since the beginning of February, investors have been watching key themes in the Bitcoin narrative push its price higher.
Catalysts driving the surge include the US spot Bitcoin exchange-traded funds (ETFs) starting trading earlier this year, along with a tightening supply ahead of the late April halving.
The price surged 150% last year, outperforming the US stock market, where the S&P 500 index rose just 24%.
On Thailand's Bitkub Digital Asset Exchange, prices reached a new high of 2.3 million baht from the original price of 2,285,500 baht in 2021.
"This is a good sign for the upcoming Bitcoin halving," said Jirayut Srupsrisopa, founder and group chief executive of Bitkub Capital Group Holdings.
Anticipation for the Bitcoin halving event and trading of spot Bitcoin ETFs is supporting the price reaching a record high before the halving occurs in April, he said.
According to Bitkub, Bitcoin ETF trades totalled 197 billion baht on Tuesday, with purchases coming from major institutional investors such as BlackRock (86.4 billion), Grayscale (54.9 billion), Fidelity (38.5 billion), Ark Invest (8.79 billion), Bitwise (5.84 billion), VanEck (984 million), Invesco (908 million), WisdomTree (587 million), Franklin (578 million), Valkyrie (180 million) and Hashdex (11.3 million).
Cryptomind Advisory anticipated Bitcoin's trend in March would be bullish.
"In the medium term, Bitcoin is still showing a clear bullish signal, with the only resistance to watch being the old record price. If there is any standing above this price, it will increase the bullishness even more," noted the advisory.
"However, if the price reached a new record high, it may be temporarily adjusted down."
Ethereum also displayed a bullish trend for the long run, but it may periodically adjust from selling to make a profit, said the advisory.